Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30558642›Full record

ArticleBMC research notes2018

The evidence supporting WHO recommendations on the promotion of hand hygiene: a critique.

Patrick Bolton, Timothy J McCulloch

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC research notes, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Patrick BoltonSchool of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, 2031, Australia. pgmbolton@gmail.com.
Timothy J McCullochDept Anaesthetics, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, 2050, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo examine the quality of the evidence relied upon by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in promoting hand hygiene with campaigns such as "Save Lives: Clean Your Hands".

resultsThe quality of evidence in the studies quoted by the WHO evidence document is highly variable and the methods used limited. In some of the quoted studies, hand hygiene was the primary outcome, rather than the clinically significant outcome of hospital acquired infection (HAI). When HAI was the primary outcome, it was often poorly defined and reported with scant detail. There was wide variation in the hand hygiene compliance achieved in the intervention studies. The majority of studies where the intervention was a campaign to promote hand hygiene used historical control data with variable attempts to account for the fact that HAI rates may have been declining prior to the hand hygiene intervention. The results from trials with a contemporaneous control were conflicting.

Indexed as

Hand HygieneHealth PromotionWorld Health OrganizationCross InfectionHumansResource AllocationEvidence based policyHand hygieneResource allocation

Identifiers

PMID30558642
PMCPMC6296116

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.