Impact of a hand hygiene campaign in a tertiary hospital in South Korea on the rate of hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and economic evaluation of the campaign

Background Hand hygiene (HH) is the most important factor affecting health care–associated infections. Methods We introduced a World Health Organization HH campaign in October 2010. The monthly procurement of hand sanitizers per 1,000 patient days was calculated, and the monthly incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (MRSAB), classified into community- and hospital-onset (HO), was measured from a microbiologic laboratory database. Trends of MRSAB incidence were assessed using Bayesian structural time series models. A cost-benefit analysis was also performed based on the economic burden of HO MRSAB in Korea. Results Procurement of hand sanitizers increased 134% after the intervention (95% confidence interval [CI], 120%-149%), compared with the preintervention period (January 2008-September 2010). In the same manner, HH compliance improved from 33.2% in September 2010 to 92.2% after the intervention. The incidence of HO MRSAB per 100,000 patient days decreased 33% (95% CI, −57% to −7.8%) after the intervention. Because there was a calculated reduction of 65 HO MRSAB cases during the intervention period, the benefit outweighed the cost (total benefit [$851,565]/total cost [$167,495] = 5.08). Conclusions Implementation of the HH campaign led to increased compliance and significantly reduced HO MRSAB incidence; it was also cost saving.