Link: Infection Control Today
Cooper’s study involved two intensive care units at a hospital in northern England. The hospital had successfully lowered its incidence of MRSA during the previous two years using traditional MRSA improvement strategies, such as revised protocols, patient screenings and intensive monitoring.
As part of the behavioral management approach, the ICU employees identified the issues to address — hand washing, patient charts and documentation. Also, with the help of special training, the employees implemented a daily monitoring plan and created special checklists for employees regarding the three sets of behavior. Each day during the study an employee would monitor the staff for 20 minutes, evaluating their attention to the three categories of behavior. The wards employed around 140 people, with the study including doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, administrative members of the care team, and visitors (physicians, hospital staff, family members, and friends).
The research was supported by Huntsman Petrochemicals Ltd. and PX Ltd., based in Teesside, England.
