Proper hand hygiene is the most important, simplest, and least expensive means of reducing the prevalence of hospital-acquired infections. However, hand hygiene (HH) compliance is still a struggle at many U.S. healthcare facilities. New technology has emerged to allow better HH tracking and monitoring, which is important for improving compliance.

An interventional, pre-post study was conducted at a 191-bed, pediatric hospital in South Texas to evaluate the impact of a free mobile application for HH observation collection, compared to traditional pen and paper methods. From June-November 2021, the hospital's trained observers for HH data collection utilized the free mobile application for their observation shifts, instead of the pens and small paper booklets typically employed. Hospital staff outside of the Infection Prevention and Control Department were not informed of this change. The observation data was then compared to the preceding six-month period.

Use of the mobile application resulted in 7,388 HH observations collected, compared with 3,082 observations in the six months preceding the intervention. This represents a 140% increase in HH observations collected, with no increase in observation time. Additionally, administrative staff time to process observation data decreased from approximately 6-hours per week to 0, as observations were pushed directly to the Infection Preventionist in almost real-time; rather than data aggregated monthly, the HH monitoring data dashboard was updated as observations were received, several times each week. Data robustness also improved, with more variables collected during each HH observation.

HH observation data collection using a mobile application increases the number of HH audits, decreases administrative burden, and provides more robust data than traditional pen and paper methods. An increase in the number of variables collected at each observation, such as a timestamp providing time of day and day of week, will allow for more targeted HH improvement efforts in the future.