High Bed Occupancy Rates in Internal Medicine Departments Are Associated with Lower Hand Hygiene Compliance
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Study Variables
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
| CCI | Charlson Comorbidity Index |
| GEE | Generalized Estimating Equation |
| IRR | Incidence Relative Ratio |
| ED | Emergency Departments |
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| Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Number of days | 1043 |
| Bed occupancy rate (%), mean (SD) | 99.0 (14.2) |
| Females (%), mean (SD) | 46.8 (8.9) |
| Average age (years), mean (SD) | 71.6 (3.1) |
| Rate of ventilated patients (%), median (IQR) | 8.2 (5.4–10.8) |
| Norton scale, median (IQR) | 17.2 (16.0–19.0) |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index, median (IQR) | 4.0 (3.0–5.0) |
| Weekend, n (%) | 15 (1.4%) |
| Staff | Type | Variable | IRR (95%CI) | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | Univariate | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.987 (0.978–0.995) | 0.001 |
| Multivariable | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.983 (0.972–0.993) | <0.001 | |
| Female rate (10%) | 0.992 (0.968–1.017) | 0.527 | ||
| Average age (10 years) | 0.967 (0.910–1.028) | 0.284 | ||
| Weekend | 1.023 (0.911–1.149) | 0.702 | ||
| Ventilated patients rate (%) | 0.996 (0.991–1.000) | 0.064 | ||
| Norton scale | 0.999 (0.991–1.007) | 0.777 | ||
| Charlson Comorbidity Index | 0.993 (0.984–1.003) | 0.193 | ||
| Physicians | Univariate | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.979 (0.967–0.99) | <0.001 |
| Multivariable | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.971 (0.954–0.988) | <0.001 | |
| Female rate (10%) | 0.979 (0.949–1.010) | 0.185 | ||
| Average age (10 years) | 0.968 (0.894–1.047) | 0.413 | ||
| Weekend | 1.022 (0.883–1.183) | 0.771 | ||
| Ventilated patients rate (%) | 0.998 (0.994–1.003) | 0.403 | ||
| Norton scale | 1.001 (0.988–1.015) | 0.827 | ||
| Charlson Comorbidity Index | 1.006 (0.988–1.024) | 0.506 | ||
| Nurses | Univariate | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.995 (0.979–1.012) | 0.553 |
| Multivariable | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.993 (0.978–1.009) | 0.392 | |
| Female rate (10%) | 1.015 (0.993–1.038) | 0.187 | ||
| Average age (10 years) | 0.936 (0.885–0.990) | 0.021 | ||
| Weekend | 1.018 (0.957–1.083) | 0.571 | ||
| Ventilated patients rate (%) | 0.998 (0.994–1.002) | 0.355 | ||
| Norton scale | 0.998 (0.992–1.005) | 0.581 | ||
| Charlson Comorbidity Index | 0.998 (0.985–1.012) | 0.771 | ||
| Healthcare assistants | Univariate | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.983 (0.964–1.002) | 0.074 |
| Multivariable | Bed occupancy rate (10%) | 0.974 (0.959–0.989) | <0.001 | |
| Female rate (10%) | 0.975 (0.929–1.023) | 0.305 | ||
| Average age (10 years) | 0.944 (0.852–1.045) | 0.266 | ||
| Weekend | 1.081 (1.025–1.139) | 0.004 | ||
| Ventilated patients’ rate (%) | 0.993 (0.985–1.001) | 0.103 | ||
| Norton scale | 1.001 (0.984–1.019) | 0.881 | ||
| Charlson Comorbidity Index | 1.008 (0.985–1.032) | 0.482 |
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© 2026 by the authors. Published by MDPI on behalf of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
Share and Cite
Saad, A.; Henig, O.; Sasportas, R.; Fire, G.; Ziv-Baran, T. High Bed Occupancy Rates in Internal Medicine Departments Are Associated with Lower Hand Hygiene Compliance. Medicina 2026, 62, 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina62010137
Saad A, Henig O, Sasportas R, Fire G, Ziv-Baran T. High Bed Occupancy Rates in Internal Medicine Departments Are Associated with Lower Hand Hygiene Compliance. Medicina. 2026; 62(1):137. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina62010137
Chicago/Turabian StyleSaad, Adi, Oryan Henig, Ruth Sasportas, Gil Fire, and Tomer Ziv-Baran. 2026. "High Bed Occupancy Rates in Internal Medicine Departments Are Associated with Lower Hand Hygiene Compliance" Medicina 62, no. 1: 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina62010137
APA StyleSaad, A., Henig, O., Sasportas, R., Fire, G., & Ziv-Baran, T. (2026). High Bed Occupancy Rates in Internal Medicine Departments Are Associated with Lower Hand Hygiene Compliance. Medicina, 62(1), 137. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina62010137

