INTRODUCTION: Effective hand hygiene is the single most important procedure in preventing hospital-acquired infections. Traditional information/education-based interventions have shown only modest benefits on compliance. This study set out to investigate whether priming via olfactory and visual cues influences hand hygiene compliance. METHOD: Randomized controlled trial set in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) at a teaching hospital in Miami, Florida. The primary outcome data involved observations-a mix of health professionals and service users were observed entering the SICU by 2 trained observers and their hand hygiene compliance was independently verified. Interventions included either an olfactory prime (clean, citrus smell) or visual prime (male or female eyes). The primary outcome measure was hand hygiene compliance (HHC) measured by the visitor using the hand gel dispenser. RESULTS: At a 5% level there was significant evidence that a clean, citrus smell significantly improves HHC (46.9% vs. 15.0%, p = .0001). Compared to the control group, a significant improvement in HHC was seen when a picture of "male eyes" was placed over the hand gel dispenser (33.3% vs. 15.0%, p < .038). No significant improvement in HHC was seen when a picture of female eyes was placed over the same hand gel dispenser (10.0% vs. 15.0%, p = .626). CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the first studies to demonstrate that priming can influence HHC in a clinical setting. The findings suggest that priming interventions could be used to change other behaviors relevant to public health. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
RCT Entities:
INTRODUCTION: Effective hand hygiene is the single most important procedure in preventing hospital-acquired infections. Traditional information/education-based interventions have shown only modest benefits on compliance. This study set out to investigate whether priming via olfactory and visual cues influences hand hygiene compliance. METHOD: Randomized controlled trial set in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU) at a teaching hospital in Miami, Florida. The primary outcome data involved observations-a mix of health professionals and service users were observed entering the SICU by 2 trained observers and their hand hygiene compliance was independently verified. Interventions included either an olfactory prime (clean, citrus smell) or visual prime (male or female eyes). The primary outcome measure was hand hygiene compliance (HHC) measured by the visitor using the hand gel dispenser. RESULTS: At a 5% level there was significant evidence that a clean, citrus smell significantly improves HHC (46.9% vs. 15.0%, p = .0001). Compared to the control group, a significant improvement in HHC was seen when a picture of "male eyes" was placed over the hand gel dispenser (33.3% vs. 15.0%, p < .038). No significant improvement in HHC was seen when a picture of female eyes was placed over the same hand gel dispenser (10.0% vs. 15.0%, p = .626). CONCLUSIONS: This is one of the first studies to demonstrate that priming can influence HHC in a clinical setting. The findings suggest that priming interventions could be used to change other behaviors relevant to public health. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
Authors: Samuel John Wilfrid Kent; Frances Helen Kent; Craig William Brown; Ian Gordon Morrison; Jerry Charles Morse Journal: BMJ Simul Technol Enhanc Learn Date: 2016-01-13
Authors: Erik J Koornneef; Aurelie Dariel; Iffat Elbarazi; Ahmed R Alsuwaidi; Paul B M Robben; Nikos Nikiforakis Journal: PLoS One Date: 2018-08-16 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Kelly Ann Schmidtke; Navneet Aujla; Tom Marshall; Abid Hussain; Gerard P Hodgkinson; Kristopher Arheart; Joachim Marti; David J Birnbach; Ivo Vlaev Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2017-09-11 Impact factor: 2.692