April 23, 2004

And the winners are ...

The much-anticipated results of the first MGH Clean Sweepstakes competition among patient care units were announced last week. Congratulations go to Bigelow 9, Ellison 16, White 11, Ellison 17, White 12, Blake 12, Ellison 19 and Bigelow 13 for having the highest hand hygiene compliance before and after patient contact.

The Clean Sweepstakes — which is a friendly competition sponsored by the STOP (Stop Transmission of Pathogens) task force — is meant to encourage all MGHers to use Cal Stat, an alcohol-based hand gel, before and after contact with patients or their environment to help reduce the rates of hospital-acquired infections and improve patient care.

The patient care units are divided into clusters of four to six units for the competition. Infection Control Unit staff regularly visit the units to observe compliance with required hand hygiene practices. The ongoing competition is based on these observation results, which are reported to each unit on a quarterly basis.

The prize for the first-quarter competition is a catered meal for the winning units. For more information about the Clean Sweepstakes, call Rosemary O'Malley at (617) 726-9663.