Sumner, Lauren2019-07-182019-07-182019-05Sumner, L. (2019). Behavioral cuing: Improving hospital visitor hand hygiene behaviors. Poster presented to the St. David's School of Nursing, Texas State University.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/8327This poster presentation is part of a capstone project submitted to the St. David's School of Nursing at Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Nursing, May 2019.Background: Visitors hand hygiene (VHH) prior to entering intensive care (ICU), telemetry, and intermediate care units is crucial in preventing spread of infections. During the influenza 2018-2019 outbreak, 50% of units' population tested positive for the influenza viruses; adding to the hospital acquired infection rates of the three units. An Agent-Based Model of infection spread approach was used with the goal of preventing infection transmission by hospital visitors in three high risk care units. Specifically, a visitor low dose educational intervention consisting of visual static and verbal cuing was undertaken to improve VHH behavior. Method: A four-week, pre-post-observational design (N=635) was completed by trained observers during day and nigh shifts for a large tertiary hospital to determine VHH rates. Strategies of visual static cuing included educational posters and patient door signage and verbal cuing to wash and/or sanitize hands by health care workers. Results: VHH adherence for the ICU was very low at baseline; out of 228 consecutive observations 20% (n=46) adherence was found. After behavioral cuing intervention, 407 observations resulted in 42% adherence to hand washing behaviors. Conclusion: Low does educational cuing strategies increased VHH behaviors. However, additional public education is needed to decrease infection spread from community sources.Image1 page1 file (.pdf)enhand hygienehospitalsvisitorseducationNursingPoster