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A Simple Solution in Search of Champions

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005;159:502-503.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Health care–associated infections are an important source of serious morbidity and mortality for all patients, especially for critically ill neonates. As many as 31% of infants who survive longer than 48 hours in a high-risk nursery acquire a health care–associated infection.^1-2 Survival of increasingly young neonates has brought more profound immune system immaturity, more frequent use of invasive life-saving interventions, and even greater vulnerability to health care–associated infections.

Hand hygiene has been recognized for over half a century as the single most important measure to prevent health care–associated infection. Despite this, it has repeatedly been shown that health care workers’ compliance with hand hygiene standards is unacceptably low and that even intensive efforts aimed at improving hand hygiene are often ineffective. Although many perceived barriers to hand hygiene are born of misinformation and ignorance, others are well founded, such as the time commitment it takes to practice effective hand hygiene . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION

Danielle M. Zerr, MD, MPH