Handrub dispensers per acute care hospital bed: a study to develop a new minimum standard

• Published in: Antimicrobial resistance & infection control Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 93
• Main Authors: Kuster, Sabine, Roth, Jan A, Frei, Reno, Meier, Christoph A, Dangel, Marc, Widmer, Andreas F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 16.06.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Alcohol-based handrub dispensers; Compliance; Cross Infection - prevention & control; Dispensers; Ethanol - administration & dosage; Guideline Adherence; Hand Disinfection - instrumentation; Hand Disinfection - standards; Hand hygiene; Hand Sanitizers - administration & dosage; Health aspects; Health surveillance; Hospitals; Humans; Hygiene; Intensive care; Location; Medical care; Medical personnel; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Nosocomial infections; Patients' Rooms; Prevention; Public health; Quality management; Quality standards; Questionnaires; Switzerland; World health; Switzerland; Germany; Quality standards; Alcohol-based handrub dispensers; Hand hygiene; Location
• ISSN: 2047-2994; 2047-2994
• DOI: 10.1186/s13756-021-00949-0

Accessibility to alcohol-based handrub (ABHR) dispenser is crucial to improve compliance to hand hygiene (HH), being offered as wall-mounted dispensers (ABHR-Ds), and/or pocket bottles. Nevertheless, information on the distribution and density of ABHR-Ds and their impact on HH have hardly been studied. Institutions such as the World Health Organisation or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not provide guidance. The Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) from Germany recommends an overall density of > 0.5 dispensers per patient bed. We aimed to investigate current conditions in hospitals to develop a standard on the minimal number of ABHR-D. Between 07 and 09/2019, we applied a questionnaire to 178 hospitals participating in the Swissnoso National Surveillance Network to evaluate number and location of ABHR-Ds per bed in acute care hospitals, and compared the data with consumption and compliance with HH. 110 of the 178 (62%) hospitals provided data representing approximately 20,000 hospital beds. 83% hospitals provided information on both the total number of ABHR-Ds and patient beds, with a mean of 2.4 ABHR-Ds per bed (range, 0.4-22.1). While most hospitals (84%) had dispensers located at the room entrance, 47% reported also locations near or at the bed. Additionally, pocket-sized dispensers (100 mL) are available in 97% of hospitals. Swiss hospitals provide 2.4 dispensers per bed, much more than governmental recommendation. The first study on the number of ABHR-Ds in hospitals may help to define a minimal standard for national and international recommendations.