The Champion’s Kit is a motivational and educational resource created through a partnership between the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the Safe Care Campaign and sponsored by an unrestricted educational grant from Professional Disposables International Inc. (PDI), a Strategic Partner of APIC.

The purpose of the kit is to champion the efforts of Infection Prevention and Control staff to key stakeholders within the healthcare delivery system. Specifically, the Kit encourages administrators to educate these decision makers about the importance of infection prevention interventions. The Champion’s Kit highlights why facilities need greater resources for infection preventionists.

Pikeville Medical Center, located in southeastern Kentucky, recently introduced a program in its facility to create an environment where patients are empowered, employees are accountable and infection prevention, hand hygiene in particular, is practiced consistently across all departments, by all employees.

The Champion’s Kit helped the Infection Control Department at Pikeville Medical Center implement its own Infection Control Champions program. Prior to this, hand hygiene was monitored predominately by having case managers observe nurses.

Teresa Epling, infection control nurse, and Janie Hall, director of infection control, wanted to emphasize the importance of hand hygiene on reducing HAIs. They wanted to involve patients in helping healthcare workers (HCWs) remember to wash or sanitize their hands and to implement a multidisciplinary approach to hand hygiene observations.

Oath: At the end of the luncheon, each attendee was asked to sign an oath.

Patient empowerment: Large "Ask Me if I Have Washed My Hands" buttons were given to staff to encourage patients to ask healthcare workers if they had washed their hands prior to being touched. This makes it easier for patients to ask and gives them control over their own safety. In addition, a hand hygiene card is given out to all patients on admission explaining the availability of the foam dispensers in the hospital, how to use them and the correct method of washing their hands. Information on this card encourages patients to take an active role in their health and urges them to ask their physicians and HCWs to wash their hands. 

The secret spotter: A direct care giver in each unit is designated as a spotter that makes ongoing hand hygiene observations (see a snapshot of Pikeville’s simple Hand Hygiene Monitoring tool at www.hpnonline.com/inside/2010-07/1007-HMS.html). The importance of using a direct caregiver is immense. These people are on the floor everyday and, although the staff may know they are a Champion, they do not know when they are monitoring for compliance. The staff also has been taught to use a raised hand signal as a silent reminder to each other to wash hands. There is a Champion on every unit. Reports are given to the Infection Control Department on a monthly basis. When a person is spotted for noncompliance, the issue is addressed by the infection control director in a one-on-one meeting.

Other tools: Posters from the Champion’s Kit have been placed around the hospital to serve as constant reminders to employees. A motivational video from Victoria Nahum of the Safe Care Campaign served as an emotional reminder of the consequences of HAIs on families and the community. In 2006, Nahum lost her stepson, Josh, to an HAI. He was 27.

Pikeville is now operating with 40 Champions across 25 departments. Before the program was implemented there were about a dozen secret spotters for the entire center. Employees now recognize the seriousness of the program and the hospital’s dedication to "Targeting Zero." The program is working on all levels of the hospital, with administrative support, employee compliance and patient empowerment. Staff are holding each other accountable and reporting non-compliance when they see it. These reports are addressed and remedied through educational intervention.

"We feel the program is making an impact by empowering patients to ask healthcare workers if they have washed their hands and empowering the champions to identify individuals who do not practice good hand hygiene," said Pikeville’s Epling. "I also feel that compliance with the use of personal protective equipment and isolation precautions has improved."