Appropriate Number of Observations For Determining Hand Hygiene Compliance Among Healthcare Workers

Appropriate Number of Observations For Determining Hand Hygiene Compliance Among Healthcare Workers | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Short report Appropriate Number of Observations For Determining Hand Hygiene Compliance Among Healthcare Workers Se Yoon Park, Suyeon Park, Eunjung Lee, Tae Hyong Kim, Sungho Won This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-659400/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Dec, 2021 Read the published version in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control → Version 1 posted 13 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We sought to determine the minimum number of observations needed to determine hand hygiene (HH) compliance among healthcare workers. The study was conducted at a referral hospital in South Korea. We retrospectively analyzed the result of HH monitoring from January to December 2018. HH compliance was calculated by dividing the number of observed HH actions by the total number of opportunities. Optimal HH compliance rates were calculated based on adherence to the six-step technique recommended by the World Health Organization. The minimum number of required observations (n) was calculated by the following equation using overall mean value (r), absolute precision ( d ), and confidence interval (CI) (1-α) [The equation: n ≥ Z 2 α/2 * p * (1-p)/d 2 ]. We considered d s of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%, with CIs of 99%, 95%, and 90%. During the study period, 8,791 HH opportunities among 1,168 healthcare workers were monitored. Mean HH compliance and optimal HH compliance rates were 80.3% and 59.7%, respectively. The minimum number of observations required to determine HH compliance rates ranged from 2 (d: 30%, CI: 90%) to 624 (d: 5%, CI: 99%), and that for optimal HH compliance ranged from 5 (d: 30%, CI: 90%) to 642 (d: 5%, CI: 99%). We found that at least five observations were needed to determine optimal HH compliance with 30% absolute precision and a 90% CI. Infectious Diseases General Microbiology Hand hygiene Monitor Healthcare worker Compliance Observation Figures Figure 1 Full Text Supplementary Files SupplementalTable.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 01 Dec, 2021 Read the published version in Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 30 Sep, 2021 Review # 1 received at journal 25 Jul, 2021 Reviewer # 3 agreed at journal 19 Jul, 2021 Reviewer # 2 agreed at journal 19 Jul, 2021 Review # 2 received at journal 19 Jul, 2021 Review # 3 received at journal 19 Jul, 2021 Reviews received at journal 19 Jul, 2021 Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 18 Jul, 2021 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Jul, 2021 Editor assigned by journal 27 Jun, 2021 Editor invited by journal 27 Jun, 2021 Submission checks completed at journal 26 Jun, 2021 First submitted to journal 24 Jun, 2021 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-659400","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Short report","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":35638757,"identity":"81815195-58b2-4793-a278-c80b2b9e9146","order_by":0,"name":"Se Yoon 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The study was conducted at a referral hospital in South Korea. We retrospectively analyzed the result of HH monitoring from January to December 2018. HH compliance was calculated by dividing the number of observed HH actions by the total number of opportunities. Optimal HH compliance rates were calculated based on adherence to the six-step technique recommended by the World Health Organization. The minimum number of required observations (n) was calculated by the following equation using overall mean value (r), absolute precision (\u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003e), and confidence interval (CI) (1-α) [The equation: n ≥ Z\u003csup\u003e2 \u003c/sup\u003e\u003csub\u003eα/2\u003c/sub\u003e * p * (1-p)/d\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e ]. We considered \u003cem\u003ed\u003c/em\u003es of 5%, 10%, 20%, and 30%, with CIs of 99%, 95%, and 90%. During the study period, 8,791 HH opportunities among 1,168 healthcare workers were monitored. 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