NHHI
National Hand Hygiene Initiative – NHHI
Hand hygiene is a fundamental part of patient care to prevent the spread of infections and contamination of the healthcare environment.
Contact the NHHI Help Desk for support with the NHHI Learning Management System (LMS) and the Hand Hygiene Compliance Application (HHCApp).
Overview
The National Hand Hygiene Initiative (NHHI) supports prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections. The National Safety and Quality Health Services (NSQHS) Standards require health service organisations to have a hand hygiene program consistent with the NHHI and jurisdictional requirements.
The NHHI is a multimodal approach to improving hand hygiene that includes:
- promoting the use of alcohol-based hand rub at the point of care
- ensuring standardised hand hygiene and infection prevention and control education
- monitoring hand hygiene compliance and providing feedback as part of a quality improvement approach
- identifying targeted opportunities for improving hand hygiene compliance.
Implementation of the NHHI is led by states, territories and health service organisations (public and private).
Resources
The Commission has developed a range of resources to support healthcare workers and health service organisations to implement the NHHI, including:
- NHHI Learning Management System (LMS)
The NHHI LMS hosts a suite of online learning modules on hand hygiene and infection prevention and control. These modules are suitable for healthcare workers, student healthcare workers and for other industries where infection prevention and control is important. The NHHI LMS also hosts the training pathways and revalidation assessments for Hand Hygiene Auditors and Hand Hygiene Auditor Educators.
- Statement from the CPMC and the ACSQHC - Hand Hygiene Compliance and Medical Practitioners
This position statement reinforces the importance of hand hygiene for both medical practitioners and student doctors.
- Hand hygiene auditing
There are a number of tools available to support hand hygiene auditing in acute and non-acute healthcare settings.
- National Hand Hygiene Initiative Implementation Guide
The NHHI Implementation Guide includes information on all aspects of implementing and sustaining hand hygiene programs in Australian healthcare facilities.
- Promotional materials
A range of promotional materials is available to support implementation of the NHHI, including consumer resources.
- National audit data
Data on hand hygiene compliance are collected by states and territories for all public health organisations, and by many private health organisations, and reported nationally three times per year as part of the NHHI.
- Auditor training and validation
Information on training pathways and revalidation requirements for Hand Hygiene Auditors and Hand Hygiene Auditor Educators.
- NHHI - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These responses support auditing and other aspects of implementation of the NHHI.
- NHHI LMS - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These responses support learners and organisations to use the NHHI Learning Management System.
- NHHI HHCApp - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These responses support auditors and organisations to use the NHHI HHCApp.
- NHHI Help Desk
The NHHI Help Desk supports users of the NHHI LMS and the HHCApp.