The Washington State Hospital Association’s Hand Hygiene Program began in 2005 and was the first statewide effort in the nation to bring hospitals together to collaboratively share strategies for improving hand hygiene. The “Best Hands on Care” is awarded for exemplary rates of hand hygiene using an evidence-based system of comparing soap and sanitizer usage to the number of patients in the hospital.
The 2010 challenge begins in June and runs through August. The award, presented at the WSHA annual meeting in October, will be given to hospitals that average 100% compliance for the months of June, July, and August in either ICU or non-ICU and pass validation by secret shopper visit(s).
Hand hygiene guidelines for this year’s competition are:
• Open to any hospital regardless of size
• Participants must submit monthly soap and sanitizer usage data to Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) through Quality Benchmarking System (QBS) - last data submission by 9/15/10
• The winner will be determined using data from June through August
• Monthly hand hygiene results for your hospital will be shared with the other hospitals involved in the “Challenge”
• Hospitals are expected to share their strategies with each other, along with open invitations for site visits
• The winner of the “Challenge” will NOT use this as a marketing advantage against other hospitals
• “Challenge” will focus on in-patient beds, where patients spend the night
• Winner’s results will be validated through a site visit(s) by a “secret shopper”
For questions, please contact Cat Ernevad at (206) 577-1820 or cate@wsha.org.
2009 Winners
Harborview Medical Center
MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital
MultiCare Tacoma General and Allenmore
Othello Community Hospital
PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center
Prosser Memorial Hospital
Skagit Valley Hospital
Sunnyside Community Hospital
Swedish Medical Center/Ballard
Swedish Medical Center/Cherry Hill
Toppenish Community Hospital
University of Washington Medical Center
Whidbey General Hospital
2008 Winners
Grays Harbor Community Hospital
Mount Carmel Hospital
Multicare Health System
Othello Community Hospital
Pullman Regional Hospital
Skagit Valley Hospital
Tri-State Memorial Hospital
Whidbey General Hospital
2007 Winners
Dayton General Hospital
Harborview Medical Center
MultiCare Health System
Othello Community Hospital
Sunnyside Community Hospital
University of Washington Medical Center