SIMPLIFY the Hand Hygiene Procedure - Three Steps Versus Six Steps for Performing Hand Hygiene (SIMPLIFY Study)

University Hospital Basel

Status: Begins enrollment in 2 months

Conditions: Hand Hygiene

Treatments: Procedure: Study intervention: 3-step hand hygiene technique; Procedure: Control intervention: 6-step hand hygiene technique

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04187040

2019-01071 me19Tschudinsutter2;

Details and patient eligibility

About

Hand hygiene is one of the most important measures to prevent healthcare associated infections. A hand hygiene technique consisting of three steps may be superior to the 6-step technique outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in terms of compliance with both indications and technique. Therefore, the aim of this study is to compare compliance with hand hygiene indications and technique between a 3-step and the 6-step technique for applying hand rub in an international multicenter cluster randomized trial.

Full description

Hand hygiene is one of the most important measures to prevent transmission of pathogens between healthcare workers and patients, and ultimately, healthcare-associated infections. However, compliance with both hand hygiene indications and technique (outlining the steps for applying hand rub to ensure coverage of all surfaces of the hands) remains insufficient at most institutions worldwide. It was previously demonstrated that a hand hygiene technique consisting of three steps is superior to the 6-step technique outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in terms of compliance with both indications and technique in a single center study. Furthermore, the 3-step technique was non-inferior regarding microbiological efficacy in two experimental studies and during daily clinical practice. To further investigate the external validity and generalizability of these findings to different settings, this study compares both compliance with hand hygiene indications and technique between the 3-step and the 6-step technique for applying hand rub in an international multicenter cluster randomized trial.

Enrollment: 40 estimated patients

Sex: All

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Health Care Workers (HCW) working at the randomized wards during the pre-defined timeframe

Exclusion criteria

Individuals, who are no HCWs

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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40 participants in 2 patient groups

3-step hand hygiene technique

Active Comparator group

Description:

Wards assigned to this study arm will receive instructions, educational materials and tutorials about the 3-step hand hygiene technique.

Treatment:

Procedure: Study intervention: 3-step hand hygiene technique

6-step hand hygiene technique

Active Comparator group

Description:

Wards assigned to this study arm will receive instructions, educational materials and tutorials about the 6-step hand hygiene technique.

Treatment:

Procedure: Control intervention: 6-step hand hygiene technique