Hand hygiene compliance.

Hand hygiene is the general term for cleansing using soap, water, and other disinfecting agents. It is imperative in preventing the spread of infections. In hospitals or other health-care settings, clinical staff must follow hand hygiene guidelines before examining patients, after interaction with bodily fluids, before invasive procedures, and after medical glove removal. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has suggested that during a shift of twelve hours, some healthcare providers may need to clean their hands up to one hundred times and they have estimated that healthcare workers properly wash their hands less than fifty percent of the times that they should. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an average of one in ten patients are affected by health care associated infections (HAIs). HAIs harm patients, healthcare workers, and visitors, cause disability and death, and cost billions of dollars each year in additional healthcare expenses. Hand hygiene compliance averts the spread of bacteria and viruses, particularly those showing antibiotic resistance.