Hand hygiene promotion and the participation of infection control link nurses: an effective innovation to overcome campaign fatigue

Abstract

Campaign fatigue was evident in a large hospital in Hong Kong when hand hygiene compliance remained just above 50% after 4 years of aggressive and varied promotional activities. A new innovative strategy was developed that directly involved the infection control link nurses both in formulating the strategy and in implementing the various proposed programs. The new strategy was successful in increasing hand hygiene compliance to 83%.

Keywords: Hand hygiene; Health care-associated infections; Promotional activities.