Patients' health motivates workers to wash their hands

August 30, 2011 in Psychology & Psychiatry

Can changing a single word on a sign motivate doctors and nurses to wash their hands?

Campaigns about hand-washing in hospitals usually try to scare doctors and nurses about personal illness, says Adam Grant, a psychological scientist at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. “Most safety messages are about personal consequences,” Grant says. “They tell you to wash your hands so you don’t get sick.” But his new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that this is the wrong kind of warning.

Hand-washing is an eternal problem for hospitals. Healthcare professionals know it’s the best way to prevent the spread of germs and diseases. But, on average, they only wash their hands about a third to a half of the time they come into contact with patients and germs.

Grant had done research in hospitals before, on topics like getting nurses to speak up about safety and reducing burnout among doctors. But when his first daughter was born, Grant’s attention was drawn to the hospital’s signs about hand-washing. “I noticed a real disconnect between what the signs were emphasizing and what I knew as a psychologist,” he says.

As a psychologist, Grant knew about “the illusion of invulnerability”—that most people think they aren’t at risk of getting sick. His own research had also shown that people aren’t motivated only by avoiding dangers for themselves; they also go to work because they want to protect and promote the well-being of others. The problem was, the signs warned about personal risks. These messages should fall on deaf ears among healthcare professionals, who are frequently exposed to germs but rarely get sick. “If I don’t wash my hands, I’ll be okay. But patients are a vulnerable group,” he says.

To test that, Grant and his coauthor, David Hofmann of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, came up with two signs to post over dispensers for soap and hand sanitizer. One said “Hand hygiene prevents you from catching diseases.” The other said “Hand hygiene prevents patients from catching diseases.” They posted these signs above different dispensers in a and recorded how often people washed, measuring how much soap and gel was used― and having trained observers spy on their colleagues.

The sign about patients was the winner. Healthcare professionals were much more likely to wash their hands if they were reminded that they were keeping patients safe. The patient sign increased soap and gel use by 33% per dispenser, and healthcare professionals were 10% more likely to wash their hands. The sign about personal risks did no good.

“Our findings challenge prevailing wisdom in the healthcare professions,” Grant says, “that the best way to get people to wash their hands is to scare them about their own health. Instead, his research demonstrates, you should remind them that hand-washing helps others.

A lot of interventions work well in the beginning, then drop off, and these studies only lasted two weeks. Grant suggests that future studies should test whether these signs would continue to work in the long term. It might be possible keep the message fresh by changing the signs frequently to mention different , or to use different slogans, like “Did you wash your hands? What if your mother was the next patient you saw?” Grant says. The punch line here is that it’s not all about me. To motivate people to engage in safety behaviors, we should highlight the consequences for others―not only themselves.

Provided by Association for Psychological Science search and more info website

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Motion quotient: IQ predicted by ability to filter motion (w/ video)

A brief visual task can predict IQ, according to a new study. This surprisingly simple exercise measures the brain's unconscious ability to filter out visual movement. The study shows that individuals whose ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created 16 hours ago | popularity 4.5 / 5 (10) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Anxious men fare worse during job interviews, study finds

Nervous about that upcoming job interview? You might want to take steps to reduce your jitters, especially if you are a man.

Psychology & Psychiatry created 17 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Are kids who take music lessons different from other kids?

(Medical Xpress)—Research by U of T Mississauga psychology professor Glenn Schellenberg reveals that two key personality traits – openness-to-experience and conscientiousness—predict better than IQ ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created 19 hours ago | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Parents can help preteens with abduction concerns

Parents naturally are concerned for their children's safety, particularly when there is news of a child abduction that happens close to home. Finding the balance between emotions and the "teachable moment" as parents talk ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created 20 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Ireland needs real-time database for teen and young adult suicides

A new report on suicide in Ireland shows that suicide cases experienced a significant number (and intensity) of life events in the 6 months prior to their death.

Psychology & Psychiatry created 20 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Hormone replacement therapy—clarity at last

The British Menopause Society and Women's Health Concern have today released updated guidelines on Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to provide clarity around the role of HRT, the benefits and the risks. The new guidelines ...

Controlling mood through the motions of mitochondria

(Medical Xpress)—Regulating the distribution of power in neurons is done by a system that makes the national electric grid look simple by comparison. Each neuron has several thousand mitochondria confined ...

Multiple research teams unable to confirm high-profile Alzheimer's study

Teams of highly respected Alzheimer's researchers failed to replicate what appeared to be breakthrough results for the treatment of this brain disease when they were published last year in the journal Science.

Scientists discover molecule triggers sensation of itch

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health report they have discovered in mouse studies that a small molecule released in the spinal cord triggers a process that is later experienced in the brain as ...

Researchers find common childhood asthma unconnected to allergens or inflammation

Little is known about why asthma develops, how it constricts the airway or why response to treatments varies between patients. Now, a team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, Columbia University Medical Center ...

Diabetes' genetic underpinnings can vary based on ethnic background, studies say

Ethnic background plays a surprisingly large role in how diabetes develops on a cellular level, according to two new studies led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.