Hand Hygiene Compliance Among Health Care Providers

Our Rates

Ontario hospitals are posting their hand hygiene compliance rates as percentages for time periods identified by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, using the following formula:

    # of times hand hygiene performed    
(# of observed hand hygiene indications) x 100



  2016/2017   2017/2018   2018/2019   2019/2020  2021/2022 2022/2023 
Before initial patient / patient environment contact 66% 56% 74% 74%  78% 78%
After patient / patient environment contact 78% 78% 79% 86%  85% 87%
 

These percentages also reflect:  

  1. hand hygiene before initial patient/patient environment contact by combined health care provider type (e.g., nurses, allied health professionals, physicians, etc.)
  2. hand hygiene after patient/patient environment contact by combined health care provider type (e.g., nurses, allied health professionals, physicians, etc.)
Hospitals are to collect at least 200 observations for every 100 inpatient beds. To ensure statistically valid data for smaller hospitals, or hospitals with fewer in-patient beds a minimum of 50 observed opportunities for hand hygiene will need to be collected. The goal of public reporting hand hygiene compliance is to achieve an overall assessment of whether compliance rates are improving. It is normal for rates to vary from hospital to hospital.