Hand hygiene prevents cross-infection in hospitals, but compliance with recommended instructions often is poor among healthcare workers. Although some previous interventions to improve compliance have been successful, none has achieved lasting improvement. This article reviews reported barriers to appropriate hand hygiene and factors associated with poor compliance.Easy access to hand hygiene in a timely fashion and the availability of skin-care lotion both appear to be necessary prerequisites for appropriate hand-hygiene behavior. In particular, in high-demand situations, hand rub with an alcohol-based solution appears to be the only alternative that allows a decent compliance. The hand-hygiene compliance level does not rely on individual factors alone, and the same can be said for its promotion. Because of the complexity of the process of change, it is not surprising that solo interventions often fail, and multimodal, multidisciplinary strategies are necessary. A framework that includes parameters to be considered for hand-hygiene promotion is proposed, based on epidemiologically driven evidence and review of the current knowledge. Strategies for promotion in hospitals should include reasons for noncompliance with recommendations at individual, group, and institutional levels. Potential tools for change should address each of these elements and consider their interactivity {Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2000;21:381-386).Hand hygiene is considered the most important measure to reduce the transmission of nosocomial pathogens in healthcare settings. As recently reviewed by Larson in a comprehensive article, 1 seven quasi-experimental hospitalbased studies of the impact of hand hygiene on the risk of nosocomial infection have been published between 1977 and 1995. 2 " 8 Despite study limitations, most reports showed a temporal relation between improved hand-hygiene practices and reduced infection rates. Similarly, the beneficial effects of hand-hygiene promotion on the risk of crosstransmission have been reported in surveys conducted in schools or day-care centers, 9 " 12 as well as in a community setting. 1315 Despite such evidence, studies in the literature have repeatedly documented that the importance of this simple procedure is not sufficiently recognized by healthcare workers (HCWs), 16 and compliance with recommended hand-hygiene practices is unacceptably low. 8,16 " 21 This article reviews factors that may explain the lack of adherence by HCWs to hand-hygiene procedures and suggests strategies for promotion in hospitals.