Stethoscope disinfection device improves hand hygiene
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Key takeaways:
- Installation of a stethoscope disinfection device increased hand hygiene compliance from 19% to 54%.
- Hand hygiene compliance was 94% among those who used the device for stethoscope disinfection.
Installation of a stethoscope disinfection device improved hand hygiene compliance among health care workers at an urgent care clinic and ED, researchers reported.
Roughly one in 31 hospitalized patients has at least one health care-associated infection (HAI) at any given time, according to HHS.
“We’ve long been interested in HAI risk reduction and have had a long-standing interest, particularly, in stethoscope hygiene,” Daniel Stromberg, MD, director of cardiac critical care at Dell Children’s Medical Center and associate professor of pediatric surgery and perioperative care at the UT Dell Medical School, said during a presentation at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology meeting.
“But we’ve also been interested in the question of whether a stethoscope disinfection device’s presence and use could also influence hand hygiene,” he said.
Hand-washing is regarded as one of the most important methods of HAI prevention. Newer technologies for HAI prevention include use of UV light, electronic monitors and various methods of reminding clinicians to wash their hands or clean other devices.
Stromberg and colleagues installed stethoscope disinfection devices outside exam rooms next to hanging gel dispensers. Health care workers were encouraged to use the devices but were not told that a hand hygiene compliance study was being conducted, according to Stromberg.
Research nurses observed hand hygiene compliance the day before and the day after installation of the devices. The researchers considered health care workers compliant if they applied hand sanitizer before or after patient interaction.
Throughout the pre-installation observation period, the researchers logged a total of 168 patient room entries — 38 in urgent care clinics and 130 in the ED. After the stethoscope disinfection device placement, there were 199 recorded patient room entries — 74 in urgent care clinics and 125 in the ED.
Results showed hand hygiene compliance increased from 19% before to 54% after device installation (P < .0001). Additionally, among those who used the device for stethoscope disinfection, hand hygiene compliance was 94%, compared with 46% in those who did not (P < .0001).
“These devices serve as a visual nudge to engage in mutually reinforcing infection control behaviors and, if this effect is sustained, as we believe it would be, [the devices] may reduce HAIs via improved stethoscope and hand hygiene together,” Stromberg said.
References:
- HHS. Healthy People 2030: Health care-associated infections workgroup. https://health.gov/healthypeople/about/workgroups/healthcare-associated-infections-workgroup. Accessed July 8, 2024.
- Skope stethoscope disinfection. https://skope-inc.com/. Accessed July 8, 2024.
- Stromberg D, et al. DS-01. Presented at: APIC 2024; June 3-5, 2024; San Antonio (hybrid).
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Stromberg D, et al. DS-01. Presented at: APIC 2024; June 3-5, 2024; San Antonio (hybrid).
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