Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) affect around 750,000 people in the United States each year. They cause thousands of preventable deaths and cost US healthcare providers billions of dollars annually. The good news is that most HAIs are preventable — because the right combination of products, protocols, and monitoring technology can close the gaps where infections spread.

This guide covers the ten infection prevention priorities that healthcare facilities should have in place, including the digital monitoring tools that are changing how hospitals verify compliance in real time.

Infection prevention protects both patients and staff from harmful pathogens — and the stakes are measurable. HAIs cause thousands of preventable deaths each year in the US, add billions in avoidable costs, and damage the trust patients place in healthcare facilities.

Since most HAIs trace back to lapses in hand hygiene, surface disinfection, or PPE use, the prevention framework is well understood. The challenge is consistent execution — which is why the right combination of products, physical infrastructure, and monitoring technology matters so much.

1. Top-Quality Hand Hygiene Products

Hand hygiene compliance is the primary defense against healthcare infections. Alcohol-based sanitizers and antimicrobial soap dispensers are the clinical standard — because they remove pathogens effectively when used correctly and consistently. Product quality matters here. A sanitizer that staff find irritating or ineffective will be used less, and lower compliance rates translate directly into higher infection risk. Choosing products that clinical teams trust and will actually use is the foundation everything else builds on.

2. Reliable PPE Usage

Personal Protective Equipment — gloves, masks, and gowns — protects both healthcare workers and patients when used correctly. Reliable supply is the first requirement. When PPE is available at the point of care, compliance is higher. Proper training on correct donning, use, and disposal is equally important, since PPE that is used incorrectly provides limited protection. Regular audits of PPE practice help identify gaps before they become incidents.

3. Touchless Restroom Dispensers

Touchless dispensers for soap, water, and paper towels reduce surface contact at the moment when hand hygiene is most important — immediately after touching a contaminated surface. When dispensers require physical contact to operate, they become potential transmission points themselves. Touchless technology removes this risk while also reducing friction, which means staff and visitors are more likely to complete the hygiene step rather than skip it.

4. Convenient Hand Hygiene Stations for Staff

Placement drives compliance. When hand hygiene stations are positioned at care entry and exit points, staff can clean their hands naturally as part of their workflow — before and after patient interactions — rather than having to detour to reach a station. The Joint Commission’s hand hygiene standards reflect this principle: convenient access is not a comfort feature, it is a compliance driver.

5. Accessible Hand Hygiene Stations for Patients and Visitors

Hand hygiene in healthcare is a shared responsibility. Patients and visitors who clean their hands reduce the pathogen load in shared spaces, which protects other patients and staff. Placing stations in high-traffic areas, patient rooms, and waiting areas — with clear signage — makes hygiene accessible to everyone in the facility, not just clinical staff.

6. Enhanced Disinfection Practices

High-touch surfaces, equipment, and patient rooms require regular disinfection with EPA-approved agents. A strict cleaning protocol — defining which surfaces are cleaned, how often, and with what products — eliminates the guesswork that leads to inconsistent practice. Advanced disinfection tools, including UV-C devices for terminal cleaning, provide an additional layer of protection for high-risk areas and equipment that is difficult to clean manually.

7. Monitoring Hand Hygiene Compliance

Knowing that hand hygiene should happen is different from knowing that it does happen. Traditional compliance monitoring relies on direct observation — which is labor-intensive, covers only a fraction of events, and is subject to the Hawthorne effect, where staff perform better when they know they are being watched.

Real-time monitoring technology changes this. RTLS-based hand hygiene monitoring uses sensor-equipped dispensers combined with real-time staff location tracking to detect whether a staff member cleaned their hands before entering a patient room. The system captures every event — not just the ones observed — providing a complete and accurate picture of compliance rates across units, shifts, and individuals.

This data allows infection prevention teams to identify persistent compliance gaps, target coaching where it is most needed, and demonstrate measurable improvement over time.

8. Accelerating Safety Compliance with Digital Platforms

Integrating digital monitoring platforms speeds up compliance improvement by making the data actionable immediately. Rather than waiting for monthly audit reports, infection prevention teams can see real-time compliance rates by unit, flag declining trends before they become incidents, and direct resources to where they will have the most impact.

Penguin’s digital platform combines sensor-equipped dispensers with real-time staff location tracking. When a staff member approaches a patient room without cleaning their hands, the system detects the missed event and can prompt immediate corrective action — rather than surfacing the lapse days later in a report. This shift from retrospective reporting to proactive oversight is the core value that digital monitoring platforms deliver.

For a broader look at how RTLS transforms healthcare operations, see our complete guide to RTLS in healthcare.

9. Ongoing Staff Education and Training

Training gives staff the knowledge and skills to prevent HAIs effectively. Programs should cover proper hand hygiene protocols — including the wash-in and wash-out moments that matter most — PPE use and disposal, and environmental cleanliness standards. Since infection prevention guidelines evolve, continuous education keeps healthcare workers current on the latest evidence-based practices. When staff understand why a protocol exists — not just what the protocol is — compliance tends to be more consistent because it is driven by understanding rather than obligation.

10. Encouraging Good Hand Hygiene

Recognizing and rewarding staff for consistent hand hygiene builds a culture where compliance is the norm rather than the exception. When facilities acknowledge those who follow hygiene protocols, they signal that the organization takes infection prevention seriously — which reinforces the behavior across the team. Easy access to sanitizers and soap throughout the facility removes the logistical barriers that cause lapses even among motivated staff. Culture and infrastructure work together: one without the other produces limited results.

Healthcare facilities that focus on these ten infection prevention priorities — quality hand hygiene products, reliable PPE, thorough disinfection, strategic station placement, real-time monitoring, staff training, and a culture of accountability — can significantly reduce HAI risk. Digital platforms accelerate compliance by moving from self-reported data to continuous, objective measurement. When hygiene standards are met consistently, facilities can deliver care confidently and safely.

What is a Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI)?

A Healthcare-Associated Infection is an infection that a patient acquires while receiving care in a healthcare facility — not present or incubating at the time of admission. Common HAIs include central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, surgical site infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. The CDC estimates that HAIs affect around 750,000 patients in the US annually and cause tens of thousands of preventable deaths.

What is the most effective way to prevent HAIs?

Hand hygiene is consistently identified as the single most effective intervention for preventing HAIs. When healthcare workers clean their hands at the right moments — before patient contact, before aseptic procedures, after body fluid exposure, and after patient contact — transmission of pathogens drops significantly. This is why monitoring hand hygiene compliance, not just promoting it, has become a clinical priority at leading healthcare systems.

How does RTLS improve hand hygiene compliance monitoring?

Traditional hand hygiene monitoring relies on direct observation, which covers only a fraction of hygiene events and is subject to observer bias. RTLS-based monitoring uses sensor-equipped dispensers and real-time staff location data to detect whether a staff member cleaned their hands before entering a patient room. Because the system captures every event rather than a sample, it gives infection prevention teams an accurate, complete picture of compliance across units and shifts — enabling targeted intervention rather than broad reminders.

What does the Joint Commission require for hand hygiene compliance?

The Joint Commission requires hospitals to implement a hand hygiene program consistent with current CDC or WHO guidelines, measure hand hygiene compliance, and set goals for improvement. Surveyors observe hand hygiene practice and review compliance data during accreditation visits. Facilities with digital monitoring platforms that produce objective, continuous compliance data are better positioned to demonstrate the active program management that surveyors look for.

What is the difference between hand hygiene monitoring and self-reporting?

Self-reporting relies on staff or supervisors recording hand hygiene events manually — a process that is time-consuming, incomplete, and subject to the Hawthorne effect. Monitoring technology captures events automatically and objectively. Because every dispenser interaction and every patient room approach is recorded, the data reflects actual practice rather than observed or remembered practice. This makes it far more useful for identifying persistent gaps and tracking whether interventions are working.

Penguin Location Services offers cost-effective RTLS-based hand hygiene compliance monitoring — combining sensor-equipped dispensers with real-time staff location tracking for complete oversight across your facility. To learn how Penguin can help your infection prevention program, visit penguinin.com/contact.