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

Impactful Learning through Business Case Competition

The speed of the fast-growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Finland has brought new challenges in terms of competency for new graduates. To catch up with the accelerating change, students from Finnish business schools need to gain proficiency in entrepreneurship skills already from early years at college. Accordingly, inspiring students to do development work is an important starting point to join the entrepreneurship world. The thesis discusses why Business Case Competition, combined with Training, is a valuable learning method.The study is aimed at refining the concept of Business Case Competition in Finnish Business Education and investigating possible learning outcomes from this teaching method. Tampere University (TAMK) took the initiative to enhance business school education in terms of practical learning experiences by the most professional and impactful learning experiences for business students around Finland. The study was conducted as a development work using a qualitative research approach. Creality Race Competition and Business Case Competition Training were carried out as experiments of the concept to gain a better understanding of student learning about entrepreneurship skills through this learning method. Data for this research were gathered with the help of the Director of Tampere Business Case Club Mari Rytisalo. The main purpose is to find out the evident entrepreneurship skills which contributed to the final ranking results of the teams. Most importantly, video records of students’ performances during the competition was an essential source for the final evaluation. The majority of respondents stated that they had seen dramatic developments of skills in students. Students and coaches were motivated to participate in more case competitions, and the jury members were satisfied with the outcomes. In comparison with the perspectives of real-life working requirements, these Finnish business students need to improve more in innovation, risk-taking attitude, and open-minded mindset. In conclusion, Business Case Competition is an effective way to teach entrepreneurship skills in a specific short time. There are several mprovements in terms of designing learning experiences for students, case content, and further collaboration in the future. However, the objectives were achieved to spread the message and make a brand new difference in Finnish Business Education