Hand Hygiene and Hospital Acquired Infections

Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) and evolving bacterial resistance are major public health concerns that impact all areas of healthcare. Further work is needed to better understand these healthcare issues so that effective preventive measures can be developed. The investigators have developed and validated an experimental model for studying the risk factors for bacterial cross contamination in the surgical operating room. The investigators have confirmed in our previous work that intraoperative bacterial transmission events occur frequently both within and between surgical cases and that these transmission events are linked to 30-day postoperative HCAIs and increased patient mortality. In response, the investigators have implemented various strategies designed to bacterial transmission in the operating room, including anesthesia provider hand hygiene compliance. The investigators' recent work in the intensive care unit suggests that the hand hygiene system the investigators have previously studied could be further optimized. The investigators now propose to evaluate the effectiveness of a multimodal hand hygiene system enhanced with novel wireless technology designed to facilitate real-time group and individual performance feedback. The investigators hypothesize that the use of this system will increase hourly hand decontamination events of anesthesia and circulating nurse providers and reduce 30-day postoperative healthcare-associated infections HCAIs (primary outcome), reduce hospital stay duration, and hospital re-admission rates, and mortality(secondary outcomes).