Healthcare workers in Emergency Departments and Emergency Medical Services are at particularly high risk for occupationally acquired infectious diseases due to their close contact with infected patients and insufficient protection, resources, training, and compliance. This article stresses the importance of hand hygiene as a key strategy to reduce these risks and recommends implementing multimodal strategies to improve hand hygiene compliance, which is vital for protecting workers and strengthening the healthcare system’s resilience.

By Ryan S. Houser, Alexander Linder, and Erin Sorrell