During 1201 observations hand hygiene compliance before patient contact
increased from 65% to 88% (p < 0.001). Median (interquartile range) drying time increased
from 4 s (4–10) to 10 s (7–14) (p < 0.001).
The proportion of very low birth weight infants with one or more bloodstream
infections and the infection rate per 1000 patient days (relative risk reduction) before and
after the education program on hand hygiene intervention decreased from 44.5% to 36.1%
(18.9%, p = 0.03) and from 17.3% to 13.5% (22.0%, p = 0.03), respectively.
At the baseline the nosocomial bloodstream infections per day-at-risk decreased by
+0.07% (95% CI 1.41 to +1.60) per month and decreased with 1.25% (95% CI 4.67 to
+2.44) after the intervention (p = 0.51). The level of instant change was 14.8% (p = 0.48).