Educating hospital cleaning staff can lead to fewer Clostridium difficile infections, according to an article on the Becker’s Clinical Leadership and Infection Control website.

The study, published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, suggested focusing on knowledge gaps, challenges and barriers.

Ninety-six percent of the workers that took part in the researchers’ education program they were more comfortable performing hand hygiene and 96 percent better understood the importance of disinfecting high-touch surfaces.

The frequency of cleaning individual high-touch surfaces in occupied rooms increased from 26 percent before implementation of the program to 62 percent after the program.

For instance, four changes to processes helped Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Hospital cut its Clostridium difficile infection rates, according to an earlier Becker's article. A study published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety linked the improvement to:

• Implementing IT-based alerts on correct protocols

• An antimicrobial stewardship program

• Enhancing monitoring for room turnovers

• Staff education 

Read the full Becker's article.