University of Guelph student to study veterinary hospital hand hygiene

Ontario, Canada

-- University of Guelph student Maureen Anderson, DVM, DVSc, Dipl. ACVIM, will study hand-hygiene compliance in veterinary clinics with the help of a three-year PhD fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Anderson will place cameras in busy treatment areas of participating clinics and will interview clinic team members to find baseline data about hand-hygiene compliance. The study also will provide insight into the effect of clinic layout and educational programs on hand washing.

"We want to find out what clinicians and technicians actually do and compare it to what they say they do, "Dr. Anderson says. "Our ultimate goal is to improve hand hygiene in veterinary clinics. If compliance is good, we want to learn about the contributing factors so we can keep it that way. If compliance is poor, we'll work with them to improve the situation."