INTRODUCTION:

Hand hygiene (HH) is considered the most important strategy to prevent healthcare associated infections. At our institution, a previous survey showed that 93% of hospital staff said they knew the hand's hygiene technique. But active surveillance observations did not reflect these results.

OBJECTIVE:

Improve appropriate hand hygiene technique through a strategy "one to one".

METHODS:

Before and after study, conducted from 2012 to 2013 including the nursing staff. The study was done in three stages: 1st stage: we observed nurse performing HH and reinforced verbally if technique was incorrect. 2nd stage: we invited a nurse to perform a HH, if technique was incorrect, we asked the nurse to do HH together with a trained observer. 3rd stage: was performed with at least 15 days after 2nd stage and consisted in a final HH technique assessment. We analyzed and compared frequencies of correct events with ji2 and McNemar.

RESULTS:

The McNemar test showed statistically significant difference between the frequencies of correct hand hygiene (HH) at stage 1 compared with subsequent stages (35 versus 85%; P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS:

We confirmed that led intervention increased cooperation by the staff and improved the correct technique of HH in the short term.