In reply: Auditing the five moments of hand hygiene is potentially subjective, but auditor training is designed to ensure consistency between auditors within and between health care settings. Interpretative differences cannot explain consistent differences in compliance between professions. Moments sometimes, legitimately, coincide. The example given by Barnes is a double moment that would be audited as two correct moments if nothing were touched in between, as described in the Hand Hygiene Australia manual:
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- 1. Grayson ML, Russo P, Ryan K, et al, editors. Chapter 6: Auditing hand hygiene compliance. 6.4: Double moments. In: 5 moments for hand hygiene. 3rd ed. Canberra: Hand Hygiene Australia, 2012: 61. http://ww.hha.org.au/ForHealthcareWorkers/manual.aspx#Manual (accessed Aug 2014).
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