A multimodal intervention was implemented in a Vietnamese clinic to improve hand hygiene compliance and thus reduce the rate of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The hand hygiene compliance increased from 26% to 58%, while the incidence of patients with HAIs decreased from 32% to 20%. The average cost of a patient with HAI was calculated to be $ 1,908 which was 2.5 times higher than for a patient without HAI. The total cost of the intervention bundle was $6.50 per patient. Overall, preventing one HAI saved $1,074.
Cost-effectiveness of a hand hygiene program on health care-associated infections in intensive care patients at a tertiary care hospital in Vietnam.
Increasing hand hygiene compliance by multimodal intervention strategies significantly reduces the incidence of healthcare-associated infections and costs per patients.