The effect of a patient empowerment hand hygiene programme: a single-centre study in Japan

The effectiveness of patient participation in hand hygiene (HH) programmes in Japan is unclear. This study examines the effect of a patient empowerment HH programme at a Japanese hospital. Two periods were analysed: January 2020 to November 2020 as the baseline, and December 2020 to April 2021 as the intervention period. The intervention involved inpatients observing the HH practices of healthcare workers. The average number of HH events per patient-day increased from 23.4 at baseline to 37.3 during the intervention. HH events were positively correlated with the number of patient observations. Patient empowerment programmes may therefore help to improve HH.