Evaluation of the Multimodal Strategy for Improvement of Hand Hygiene as Proposed by the World Health Organization.

Hand hygiene has the biggest impact and is the least expensive way to prevent and control health care-associated infections. In this study, we assessed the effectiveness of the multimodal strategy of the World Health Organization to improve health care-associated infection rates, hand hygiene compliance, and the related knowledge of health care professionals in a Brazilian university hospital. We observed the necessity for an alternative approach in hospitals with high staff turnover and low attendance of educational sessions.