Hand Hygiene: A Patient Safety Issue in the Perioperative Environment

Hand hygiene represents the single most important procedure in the health care milieu for preventing the transmission of infection. Although the perioperative environment is viewed as an area where all members of the surgical team religiously comply with the concept of surgical asepsis, compliance by all personnel may not be so rigorous for general day-to-day hand hygiene between each patient contact and contact with the environment. Providing the infrastructure and facilities, conducting observations, and posting compliance rates by disciplines in the perioperative setting are critical components in efforts to increase compliance with hand hygiene and consequently improve patient safety.