Hero Program: A Data-Driven Reward System to Improve Hand Hygiene.

IF 3.8 3区医学 Q2 INFECTIOUS DISEASES

American journal of infection control Pub Date : 2025-07-02 DOI:10.1016/j.ajic.2025.06.026

Ali Barzegar Khanghah, Shaghayegh Chavoshian, Majid Janidarmian, Simon Rustin, Geoff Fernie, Atena Roshan Fekr

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) compromise patient outcomes and pose a significant burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Despite widespread awareness of the critical role of Hand Hygiene (HH) in preventing HAIs, compliance among healthcare workers remains suboptimal. This study evaluates a reward program called the Hero Program which is designed to incentivize and sustain proper HH practices through positive reinforcement.

Methods: The program used data from an electronic hand hygiene prompting system that has been installed in an inpatient unit in Toronto Rehabilitation Institute - University Health Network for over 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 over a period of 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. Furthermore, compliance rates continued to improve over time, reaching 94% one year later.

Conclusion: This sustained improvement suggests that the program had a long-lasting positive impact on HH practices in the unit.

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英雄计划：数据驱动的奖励系统，以改善手卫生。

背景：医疗保健相关感染（HAIs）损害患者预后，并对全球医疗保健系统造成重大负担。尽管人们普遍意识到手卫生在预防HAIs中的关键作用，但卫生保健工作者的依从性仍然不够理想。本研究评估了一个名为“英雄计划”的奖励计划，该计划旨在通过正强化来激励和维持适当的HH实践。方法：该项目使用电子手卫生提示系统的数据，该系统已安装在多伦多康复研究所-大学健康网络的住院病房超过3年。考虑到工作量和奖励一致性，实现了一个评分算法来衡量个人HH遵守率。每天的获胜者都是根据他们的分数选出的，并获得礼品卡奖励。结果：在大约2.5年的时间里，对61名护理人员的数据和超过566,000条记录的分析表明，英雄计划在实施120天后，使HH依从性提高了11.45%。这是一个很有希望的发现，表明该项目在早期促进行为改变方面是有效的。此外，随着时间的推移，依从率继续提高，一年后达到94%。结论：这种持续的改善表明该计划对该单位的HH实践产生了持久的积极影响。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

American journal of infection control 医学-传染病学

CiteScore

7.40

自引率

4.10%

发文量

479

审稿时长

24 days

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)