One of the single most effective methods for reducing nosocomial infections (that’s doctor-talk for an infection obtained accidentally as a result of being treated, usually in a hospital) is for caregivers to regularly wash their hands. Despite simple tricks to help nurses and physicians to wash amply (sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and scrub until you’re done), adherence to hand washing remains suboptimal.
Enter a group of undergrads involved in UCLA’s Measuring to Achieve Patient Safety (MAPS) program. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, the students keep an eye on physicians and nurses when it comes to handwashing and other safety maneuvers. The results are pretty nice: a near doubling in the rate of adherence, from 50% to 93%.
In some sense this shouldn’t be a surprise: We’re social creatures and are sensitive to whether our actions are being observed by others. But the magnitude of this sensitivity is surprising; the effect is so strong that our actions can be affected by simple reminders of being watched… even if no one is actually watching.
Bateson and colleagues, for example, alternated images of flowers and pairs of eyes on a sign reminding people to contribute money to the office “honor box” whenever they drank tea or coffee. They found that people paid 2.76 times more when the sign included the pair of eyes:
Where else can we use this inclination to nudge better behavior? Here’s looking at us.