In all, they studied more than 4,000 caregivers (two-thirds of whom were nurses), who over the course of the research had nearly 14 million “hand hygiene opportunities.” The results were not pretty. On average, these employees washed their hands less than half the time when they had an opportunity and a professional obligation to do so. Worse, the caregivers, most of whom began their shifts in the morning, were even less likely to sanitize their hands in the afternoons. This decline from the relative diligence of the mornings to the relative neglect of the afternoon was as great as 38 percent.
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