Research published in the American Journal of Infection Control found education and visual reminders improved infection control compliance for nurse anesthetists.
Researchers observed nurse anesthetists' patient care hand hygiene before and after the adoption of infection control guidelines, staff education and placement of visual reminders. They performed 95 observations, then calculated and compared the compliance rates before implementation, three weeks after, and three months after.
The key details to know:
1. A 26.2 percent increase in the number of providers compliant with hand hygiene practices was observed after airway instrumentation.
2. There was a 71.9 percent increase in the number of providers separating clean items from contaminated ones in the workspace.
3. Researchers concluded, "Education, visual reminders and standardized infection control guidelines were shown to improve compliance with infection control best practices in a group of nurse anesthetists."
