{"title":"Hero Program: A data-driven reward system to improve hand hygiene","authors":"Ali Barzegar Khanghah MASc , Shaghayegh Chavoshian BS , Majid Janidarmian PhD , Simon Rustin MASc , Geoff Fernie PhD , Atena Roshan Fekr PhD","doi":"10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.026","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Healthcare-associated infections compromise patient outcomes and pose a burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Despite widespread awareness of the critical role of Hand Hygiene (HH) in preventing healthcare-associated infections, compliance among healthcare workers remains suboptimal. This study evaluates a reward program called the <em>Hero Program</em> which is designed to incentivize and sustain HH practices through positive reinforcement.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>The program used data from an electronic HH prompting system that has been installed in an inpatient unit in Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network for 3<!--> <!-->years. A scoring algorithm was implemented to weigh individual HH compliance rates, considering workload and rewarding consistency. Daily winners were selected based on their scores and received gift card rewards.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The analysis of data from 61 caregivers and more than 566,000 records for approximately 2.5<!--> <!-->years indicates that the Hero Program led to an 11.45% increase in HH compliance after 120<!--> <!-->days of implementation. This is a promising finding, suggesting that the program was effective in promoting behavior change early on. Compliance rates continued to improve over time, reaching 94% 1<!--> <!-->year later.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>This sustained improvement suggests that the program had a long-lasting positive impact on HH practices in the unit.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7621,"journal":{"name":"American journal of infection control","volume":"53 10","pages":"Pages 1064-1069"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American journal of infection control","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196655325004596","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background
Healthcare-associated infections compromise patient outcomes and pose a burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Despite widespread awareness of the critical role of Hand Hygiene (HH) in preventing healthcare-associated infections, compliance among healthcare workers remains suboptimal. This study evaluates a reward program called the Hero Program which is designed to incentivize and sustain HH practices through positive reinforcement.
Methods
The program used data from an electronic HH prompting system that has been installed in an inpatient unit in Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network for 3 years. A scoring algorithm was implemented to weigh individual HH compliance rates, considering workload and rewarding consistency. Daily winners were selected based on their scores and received gift card rewards.
Results
The analysis of data from 61 caregivers and more than 566,000 records for approximately 2.5 years indicates that the Hero Program led to an 11.45% increase in HH compliance after 120 days of implementation. This is a promising finding, suggesting that the program was effective in promoting behavior change early on. Compliance rates continued to improve over time, reaching 94% 1 year later.
Conclusions
This sustained improvement suggests that the program had a long-lasting positive impact on HH practices in the unit.
期刊介绍:
AJIC covers key topics and issues in infection control and epidemiology. Infection control professionals, including physicians, nurses, and epidemiologists, rely on AJIC for peer-reviewed articles covering clinical topics as well as original research. As the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)