hand hygiene
By Robert P . Lee
Hand Hygiene and Surfaces :
How a Performance Improvement Team and Lean 6 Sigma Methodology Helped to Improve Hand Hygiene Compliance and Eliminate Practice Errors
There ’ s a saying that pathogens don ’ t have legs , we give them legs . When we can limit their mobility , we lower the risk of infection . When the pathogen cannot reach the host , it eventually dies . So , why are we still experiencing more than 2 million infections per year and more than 100,000 deaths in the acute-care setting and 400,000 deaths in the alternate-site setting , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC )?
Hand hygiene is considered the No . 1 preventive method for reducing the risk of infection . Hand hygiene is a process of sanitizing your hands and doing this at the proper time . Within this article I would like to address and focus on the latter at the proper time .
For this exercise , we called upon our performance improvement team and their Lean 6 Sigma playbook . Lean is the performance improvement process of eliminating “ waste ” and redefining a correct process . When married with 6-Sigma , chances for error and mistakes are identified . The engagement begins by selecting the correct cross functional team to participate . We then begin “ the current state ” analysis , which is collecting data on current activities and mapping this to a workflow pictorial called a “ spaghetti diagram ” ( see below ).
Step 1
Assess the current state
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