A note on the white boards in hospital patients’ rooms saying, “I like clean hands,” can result in higher rates of hand-washing among health professionals, but a sign in the staff lounge urging hand-hygiene compliance probably will not make a difference.

These are among the findings of a rapid intervention-testing process used at seven hospitals in the Sentara Healthcare system, headquartered in Norfolk, Va., that pushed the hand-hygiene compliance rate to 92.5%. The nationwide hand-washing rate has hovered around 50%, depending on the study and measurement used.

My latest. Read the whole shebang.