21 Million Opportunities: A 19 Facility Investigation of Factors Affecting Hand Hygiene Compliance via Linear Predictive Models

TL;DR

This large-scale study analyzes 21.3 million hand hygiene opportunities across 19 facilities using linear predictive models to identify factors influencing compliance, revealing impacts of temperature, holidays, and facility-specific cultures.

Contribution

The paper introduces a comprehensive analysis of factors affecting hand hygiene compliance using large-scale data and linear models, providing both general and facility-specific insights.

Findings

Colder temperatures negatively impact compliance.

Federal holidays reduce hand hygiene adherence.

Facility cultures vary significantly in compliance patterns.

Abstract

This large-scale study, consisting of 21.3 million hand hygiene opportunities from 19 distinct facilities in 10 different states, uses linear predictive models to expose factors that may affect hand hygiene compliance. We examine the use of features such as temperature, relative humidity, influenza severity, day/night shift, federal holidays and the presence of new medical residents in predicting daily hand hygiene compliance; the investigation is undertaken using both a "global" model to glean general trends, and facility-specific models to elicit facility-specific insights. The results suggest that colder temperatures and federal holidays have an adverse effect on hand hygiene compliance rates, and that individual cultures and attitudes regarding hand hygiene exist among facilities.