According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), proper hand hygiene is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to reduce the transmission of infections. In 2009, the World Health Organisation (WHO) introduced guidelines on hand hygiene, highlighting to healthcare workers, hospital administrators and health authorities the importance of hand hygiene when delivering healthcare to patients. This prompted hospitals, health authorities and companies in Singapore to step up their hand hygiene efforts to raise awareness and cultivate the habit of cleaning hands. CDC estimates that nearly 80% of infections transmitted were through hand-to-hand contact, therefore the significance of clean hands in patient care is one that cannot be emphasised enough.

For this reason, the Start Cleaning, Stop Infecting campaign was carried out to promote proper hand hygiene among hospital visitors in Singapore General Hospital (SGH). The campaign aimed to improve hand hygiene compliance rate among hospital visitors, by having adults aged 18 and above to be aware of when and how they should clean their hands in a hospital setting. This demographic was selected as they account for the majority of human traffic flow in SGH. A two-pronged approach was developed to:

  • Remind hospital visitors to conduct proper hand hygiene practices through collaterals that are eye-catching and easy to understand; and
  • Engage hospital visitors through an interactive medium to check the effectiveness of their current hand hygiene techniques, visually illustrating to them that their hands may not be as clean as they perceive them to be.

The Highlights

At the end of six weeks (17 Jan to 2 Mar 2018), the campaign’s engagement numbers surpassed the projected on-ground outreach objective. The team engaged a total of 5,390 hospital visitors, as well as healthcare workers by facilitating their interaction with the 3-Step UV booth. Many also feedback that the campaign was ‘Highly-Engaging’ and took away learning points that they will remember when it comes to hand washing.

Watch the video below to view the campaign’s promotional clip:

In addition, there was ensured sustainability for the campaign as the campaign’s main partner, SGH, has agreed to continue leaving the posters at Block 5, while replicating them for other wards. SGH had also agreed to incorporate the team’s design and content for future educational collaterals. The team’s main sponsor, Schulke & Mayr, also has plans to utilise their 3-Step UV booth for their upcoming roadshows and events amidst their expansion efforts into Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

A 3-metres sculpture made up of hand sanitiser bottles used during the campaign period, will also be displayed for a year on the grounds of SGH. It will be a primary display during World Hand Hygiene Day that falls on 5 May this year. The purpose of this sculpture display was to visually represent the result of a community-wide effort to practice proper hand hygiene and in doing so, commemorate the collective effort of every individual who contributed to the hand hygiene movement.

The Memories

The campaign’s 3-Step UV Booth at Singapore General Hospital.
Digital counter displaying the total number of people who have sanitized their hands during the campaign.
A hospital visitor checking his hands under the UV light.
Behind the scenes shot of the campaign’s promotional clip.
The campaign’s collaterals are place within the wards of Singapore General Hospital.

Reflection #1 – The Challenges

Faced restrictions and limitations in terms of carrying out the campaign.

As many different departments were necessary to be brought on board for this campaign, there were instances of miscommunication. Instructions were not very clear which led to conflicting decisions and delayed approvals during the different stages of the campaign.

In addition, given the sensitivity of a government hospital setting, there were disagreements of mentioning Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) even though this topic had already been pre-approved in the initial stages of campaign planning. This greatly limited messaging strategies for both collaterals and press releases. With this in mind, allocating more lead time for approvals would be crucial in the future.

Budget constraints

Initially, the team was unable to execute their campaign tactics due to a lack of funds. Specifically, the cost of the giant sculpture turned out to be more than what was originally budgeted for. However, after many rounds of negotiations and adjustments made to the size and material of the sculpture, the team was grateful to receive discounted rates from their vendors. This allowed them to carry out their campaign tactics as planned.

Reflection #2 – The Takeaways

  • Despite the challenges faced while working with SGH, they conveyed their praise, mentioning how the team has “overcame many obstacles in the course of executing the campaign, without compromising on the quality of their work”. The team’s sponsor, Schulke & Mayr also commended their approach, saying: “The students were very original in the conceptualisation of their campaign strategy, their ideas were novel and we see potential in expanding it to other Asian markets”.
  • Even though hand hygiene campaigns are very common, it was heartwarming to see the importance of having such campaigns and how people are very receptive towards it.

The team would like to express their appreciation to Singapore General Hospital and Schulke & Mayr,  who has helped in one way or another to make this campaign a successful one.