Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 April 2021
To determine whether a hospital-wide universal gloving program resulted in increased hand hygiene compliance and reduced inpatient Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) rates.
We carried out a multiple-year before-and-after quasi-experimental quality improvement study. Gloving and hand hygiene compliance data as well as hospital-acquired infection rates were prospectively collected from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2017, by secret monitors.
The University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital, an 849-bed quaternary-care teaching hospital.
All adult inpatients with the exception of patients in the obstetrics unit.
A hospital-wide universal gloving protocol was initiated on January 1, 2016.
Hand hygiene compliance increased from 68% in 2015 reaching an average of 88% by 2017 (P < .0002). A 10% increase in gloving per unit was associated with a 1.13-fold increase in the odds of hand hygiene (95% credible interval, 1.12–1.14). The rates of CDI decreased from 1.05 infections per 1,000 patient days in 2015 to 0.74 in 2017 (P < .04).
A universal gloving initiative was associated with a statistically significant increase in both gloving and hand hygiene compliance. CDI rates decreased during this intervention.