A pilot quality improvement project was conducted to examine the effect of playing an applause sound effect at a busy hospital concourse for three consecutive days whenever hand hygiene behavior was observed. The immediate effect was documented. The project demonstrated observable interest among people passing by, and hand hygiene events triggered by the sound effect represented 10.1% of all hand hygiene events documented. This supports the possible utility of this intervention in generating public awareness and increasing hand hygiene behavior and demonstrates the feasibility of a longer trial utilizing audio devices.
CaneJO’ConnorDMichieS (2012) Validation of the theoretical domains framework for use in behaviour change and implementation research. Implementation Science7: 37.
2.
DuhiggC (2014) The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Toronto, ON: Anchor Canada.
3.
FakhryMHannaGBAndersonO, et al. (2012) Effectiveness of an audible reminder on hand hygiene adherence. American Journal of Infection Control40(4): 320–323.
4.
GardnerB (2015) A review and analysis of the use of ‘habit’ in understanding, predicting and influencing health-related behaviour. Health Psychology Review9(3): 277–295.
5.
GouldDJMoralejoDDreyN, et al. (2017) Interventions to improve hand hygiene compliance in patient care. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews9(9): CD005186.
6.
KingDVlaevIEverett-ThomasR, et al. (2016) “Priming” hand hygiene compliance in clinical environments. Health Psychology35(1): 96–101.
7.
LeeZLoJLuanYL, et al. (2021) Patient, family, and visitor hand hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and practices at pediatric and maternity hospitals: a descriptive study. American Journal of Infection Control49(8): 1000–1007.
8.
SrigleyJAFurnessCDGardamM (2016) Interventions to improve patient hand hygiene: a systematic review. Journal of Hospital Infection94(1): 23–29.
