Hand hygiene compliance in most hospitals is less than 50%, a significant contributor to the annual healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates of 7.1% in Europe and 4.5% in the United States. This translates to 37,000 deaths in European countries (Hand Hygiene, 2020) and nearly 99,000 deaths in the U.S. each year (Stone, 2009; Patient CareLink). Adequate and thorough hand hygiene is the single most important, least costly, and most basic method of reducing HAIs in hospitals (Mathur, 2011). A 10% improvement in hand hygiene is associated with a 6% decrease in HAIs (Sickbert-Bennett, et al. 2016).

Our APSS outline actionable steps healthcare organizations should take to successfully implement and sustain behavior change for high reliability, shared understanding, thorough communication, and meaningful person-centered care across the organization.

Actionable steps include:

• Executive Summary Checklist
• Leadership checklist guide to determine whether current evidence-based guidelines are being followed in your organization
• Performance improvement plan to follow if improvements are necessary
• Clinical workflow for preoccupation with workflow for areas of improvement
• How to educate patients and family members about the significance of their role throughout the continuum
• Guidance on how to measure outcomes