The World Health Organization '5 moments of hand hygiene': the scientific foundation.

D T S Chou; P Achan; M Ramachandran

Commentary

The World Health Organization '5 moments of hand hygiene': the scientific foundation.

May 23, 2012

Chou DTS, Achan P, Ramachandran M. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 2012;94(4):441-5.

View more articles from the same authors.

Examining the World Health Organization's hand hygiene program, this commentary identifies weaknesses in the program's ability to reduce health care–associated infections.

PubMed citation

Available at

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Impact of a warning CPOE system on the inappropriate pill splitting of prescribed medications in outpatients.

January 21, 2015

Physicians failed to write flawless prescriptions when computerized physician order entry system crashed.

May 6, 2015

No shortcuts to safer opioid prescribing.

May 8, 2019

CDC guideline for prescribing opioids for chronic pain—United States, 2016.

March 30, 2016

Medication-prescribing errors in a teaching hospital: a 9-year experience.

March 6, 2005

Challenging authority during a life-threatening crisis: the effect of operating theatre hierarchy.

December 19, 2012

Adoption of health information technology for medication safety in US hospitals, 2006.

May 28, 2008

Impact of state nurse practitioner regulations on potentially inappropriate medication prescribing between physicians and nurse practitioners: a national study in the United States.

December 8, 2021

Development of rapid response capabilities in a large COVID-19 alternate care site using Failure Modes and Effect Analysis with in situ simulation.

November 18, 2020

CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain - United States, 2022.

November 16, 2022

Medication error reporting in nursing homes: identifying targets for patient safety improvement.

February 17, 2010

Epidemiology of and risk factors for coronavirus infection in health care workers: a living rapid review.

May 27, 2020

First year with WHO Surgical Safety Checklist in 7148 otorhinolaryngological operations: use and user attitudes.

October 31, 2012

Simulation as a tool to improve the safety of pre-hospital anaesthesia—a pilot study.

September 23, 2009

Outcomes after out-of-hospital endotracheal intubation errors.

February 18, 2009

The effects of leadership for self-worth, inclusion, trust, and psychological safety on medical error reporting.

March 8, 2023

Teamwork on inpatient medical units: assessing attitudes and barriers.

May 5, 2010

Medication prescribing errors in a teaching hospital.

March 6, 2005

Applying HFMEA to prevent chemotherapy errors.

December 8, 2010

Nursing accreditation system and patient safety.

May 9, 2012

A reduction in cardiac arrests and duration of clinical instability after implementation of a paediatric rapid response system.

December 16, 2009

Effect of day of the week on short- and long-term mortality after emergency general surgery.

April 5, 2017

The effectiveness and risks of long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain: a systematic review for a National Institutes of Health Pathways to Prevention Workshop.

December 21, 2016

Patterns of opioid administration among opioid-naive inpatients and associations with postdischarge opioid use: a cohort study.

July 10, 2019

The top 10 list for a safe and effective sign-out.

November 5, 2008

Effect of a quality improvement intervention with daily round checklists, goal setting, and clinician prompting on mortality of critically ill patients.

April 20, 2016

Related Resources

Patient Safety Authority Annual Reports.

May 1, 2023

National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (NatSSIPs2).

February 7, 2023

National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports.

November 7, 2022

The problem with 'My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene'.

August 25, 2021

Moving beyond the weekend effect: how can we best target interventions to improve patient care?

June 30, 2021

Hospital Compare.

May 13, 2021

Reducing nosocomial transmission of COVID-19: implementation of a COVID-19 triage system.

October 28, 2020

COVID-19 crisis, safe reopening of simulation centres and the new normal: food for thought.

August 19, 2020

American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Policy Brief: COVID-19 and assisted living facilities.

June 3, 2020

Barriers and facilitators to healthcare workers' adherence with infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines for respiratory infectious diseases: a rapid qualitative evidence synthesis.

May 13, 2020

What US hospitals are currently doing to prevent common device-associated infections: results from a national survey.

May 8, 2019

Hospital-acquired infections under pay-for-performance systems: an administrative perspective on management and change.

September 26, 2018

Learning From Mistakes.

August 31, 2016

Antibiotic Stewardship in Acute Care: A Practical Playbook.

July 13, 2016

Sustaining reductions in central line-associated bloodstream infections in Michigan intensive care units: a 10-year analysis.

July 13, 2016

Efforts To Improve Patient Safety Result in 1.3 Million Fewer Patient Harms: Interim Update on 2013 Annual Hospital-Acquired Condition Rate and Estimates of Cost Savings and Deaths Averted From 2010 to 2013.

December 10, 2014

After Mid Staffordshire: from acknowledgement, through learning, to improvement.

August 27, 2014

Strategies to prevent healthcare-associated infections through hand hygiene.

July 30, 2014

Early warnings, weak signals and learning from healthcare disasters.

April 9, 2014

A just culture after Mid Staffordshire.

March 26, 2014

Practices to prevent venous thromboembolism: a brief review.

February 19, 2014

Healthcare-associated infections: a national patient safety problem and the coordinated response.

February 19, 2014

Mandatory influenza vaccination for health care workers as the new standard of care: a matter of patient safety and nonmaleficent practice.

January 29, 2014

Public reporting of health care–associated surveillance data: recommendations from the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee.

January 22, 2014

Demonstrating high reliability on accountability measures at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

December 4, 2013

Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First.

November 27, 2013

Safety during night shifts: a cross-sectional survey of junior doctors' preparation and practice.

October 23, 2013

Culture and behaviour in the English National Health Service: overview of lessons from a large multimethod study.

October 23, 2013

Solving the puzzle: improving safety outcomes.

October 23, 2013

Positive deviance: a new tool for infection prevention and patient safety.

October 16, 2013

See More About The Topic

Health Care Executives and Administrators

Policy Makers

General Internal Medicine

Hospital Medicine

Nosocomial Infections

The World Health Organization '5 moments of hand hygiene': the scientific foundation.

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The World Health Organization '5 moments of hand hygiene': the scientific foundation.

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

PSNet Log in

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue logged in

New Users to the PSNet site