Maryland to monitor hospital workers' hand washing
By: Ben Giles
Examiner Staff Writer
November 4, 2009
Doctors, get ready to wash your hands.
Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown announced on Tuesday plans for a $100,000 initiative to ensure that hospital employees statewide wash their hands properly.
The Maryland Health Quality and Cost Council, which Brown heads, hopes the program will improve health care while cutting costs. Health care-associated infections are easily preventable and can cause a heavy financial burden on hospitals, according to Mike Raia, Brown's press secretary.
"This isn't a chance to say 'gotcha,' " Raia said. "It's an opportunity to share information between hospitals and improve conditions across the state."
Officials from 45 out of 47 hospitals across the state attended Tuesday's meeting with state health officials in Clarksville, including Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary John Colmers.
Calls to hospital officials in attendance were not returned.
The Maryland Hospital Hand Hygiene Collaborative, which is slated to begin Jan. 1, will use "secret shoppers" to monitor and track how often and how well hospital employees wash their hands. The reports will be used to connect hospitals who are found to have poor hand washing with more successful hospitals to share techniques and encourage good hygiene, Colmers said.
"While many hospitals already have these programs in place, being able to consistently measure across hospitals allows you to be sure what they're doing is working or not, in terms of compliance," he said.
The federal stimulus package is funding the program through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tuesday's kickoff event also was used as meeting and training session for hospital infection prevention officials -- who are responsible for promoting safety measures -- to discuss how the monitoring program will work.
Officials also took the time to discuss other programs.
"This hand hygiene collaborative will protect staff and patients from infection in the health care setting," Brown said. "We know that no other single behavior or activity can save lives and prevent health care-associated infections better than comprehensive hand washing by care providers."
