Healthcare workers’ hand hygiene and infection control compliance: should patients and relatives be involved?

Hand hygiene, though simple and inexpensive, has been recognised as one of the single most important interventions to prevent cross-contamination. Despite its significance, compliance among healthcare workers (HCWs) remains poor. This study sought to find out whether patients and their relatives were willing to get involved to improve HCWs’ hand hygiene and infection control compliance in a community hospital. Thirty-eight conveniently selected patients completed survey questionnaires. Twenty-five (66%) indicated that patients and relatives should be involved in improving HCWs’ hand hygiene compliance. Thirty-four (90%) said that they or their relatives had been encouraged by HCWs to decontaminate their hands. Thirty-three (87%) felt confident to ask any HCW to decontaminate their hands before providing care for them. A total of thirty-two (83%) indicated that they would either remind or report HCWs who were found to be breaching hand hygiene protocols, while a total of thirty-three (86%) said they would either remind or report HCWs if they found the environment to be unclean. The majority of patients appeared to feel empowered to challenge breaches in hand hygiene and infection control protocols by HCWs and were also willing to get involved. This empowerment and willingness should be encouraged and supported by HCWs.