The long-term impact of immediate verbal feedback of hand hygiene compliance after overt observation sessions, as assessed by continuous closed-circuit television monitoring in an intensive care setting.

The overall hand hygiene compliance rate of HCWs did not show an improvement after immediate verbal personal feedback. Covert CCTV observational sessions yielded much lower hand hygiene compliance rates then overt interventional and non-interventional observations. We suggest that a single intervention of personal feedback immediately after an observational session is an ineffective strategy to change habitual practices.