STOPFLU : is it possible to reduce the number of days off in office work by improved hand-hygiene?

Peer reviewe

Hand washing with soap and water together with behavioural recommendations prevents infections in common work environment: an open cluster-randomized trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hand hygiene is considered as an important means of infection control. We explored whether guided hand hygiene together with transmission-limiting behaviour reduces infection episodes and lost days of work in a common work environment in an open cluster-randomized 3-arm intervention trial.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 21 clusters (683 persons) were randomized to implement hand hygiene with soap and water (257 persons), with alcohol-based hand rub (202 persons), or to serve as a control (224 persons). Participants in both intervention arms also received standardized instructions on how to limit the transmission of infections. The intervention period (16 months) included the emergence of the 2009 influenza pandemic and the subsequent national hand hygiene campaign influencing also the control arm.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the total follow-up period there was a 6.7% reduction of infection episodes in the soap-and water arm (p = 0.04). Before the onset of the anti-pandemic campaign, a statistically significant (p = 0.002) difference in the mean occurrence of infection episodes was observed between the control (6.0 per year) and the soap-and-water arm (5.0 per year) but not between the control and the alcohol-rub arm (5.6 per year). Neither intervention had a decreasing effect on absence from work.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that intensified hand hygiene using water and soap together with behavioural recommendations can reduce the occurrence of self-reported acute illnesses in common work environment. Surprisingly, the occurrence of reported sick leaves also increased in the soap-and water-arm.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00981877">NCT00981877</a></p> <p>Source of funding</p> <p>The Finnish Work Environment Fund and the National Institute for Health and Welfare.</p

IMPROVING PERFORMANCE, QUALITY AND HAPPINESS OF SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT TEAM : Agile and Lean approach

The main goal for the thesis was to improve the performance and produced quality of two software development teams, while maintaining a high level of employee happiness. The improvement was mainly planned to be done through introduction of some Agile and Lean software development methods and practices. Over the period of two years, a significant number of changes were implemented with the main focus being on Scrum and Kanban method based practices; however, the changes did not limit only to those two methods. Both of the teams ended up having some differences with the practices that they found most beneficial for them, however, they also had many similar practices. Going through these practices offers insight into a possible core set of practices that could be beneficial in the majority of the teams. The research was implemented as action research that was supported by survey research. The results of the research were highly positive and there was a clear improvement in all three factors that were studied : performance, quality and happiness during the time of the researchOpinnäytetyön tavoitteena oli parantaa kahden ohjelmistokehitystiimin tehokkuutta ja tuotettua laatua säilyttäen samanaikaisesti korkean onnellisuustason. Parannukset suunniteltiin tehtäväksi pääasiassa ketterien ja Leanin ohjelmistokehityksen mukaisten ohjelmistokehityskäytäntöjen avulla. Kahden vuoden tutkimusjakson aikana vietiin lävitse suuri määrä muutoksia. Muutoksissa pääpainotus oli Scrumiin ja Kanban metodiin pohjautuvilla käytännöillä. Muutokset eivät rajoittuneet kuitenkaan vain kahteen edellä mainittuun metodiin. Tutkimuksen aikana tiimien valitsemiin käytäntöihin tuli jossain määrin eroavaisuuksia, mutta löydettävissä oli myös ydinjoukko käytäntöjä, jotka molemmat tiimit kokivat erittäin hyödyllisiksi. Näiden käytäntöjen tarkempi tutkiminen antaa näkemystä mahdolliseen joukkoon käytäntöjä, jotka voisivat olla hyödyllisiä suurimmalle osalle ohjelmistonkehitystiimeistä. Tutkimus toteutettiin toimintatutkimuksena, jota täydennettiin kyselytutkimuksella. Opinnäytetyön tulokset olivat erittäin positiivisia ja selkeää kehitystä oli työn aikana havaittavissa niin tehokkuudessa, laadussa kuin onnellisuudessakin