OBJECTIVE By exploring the effect of the application of continuous quality improvement (CQI) on the hand hygiene management of the ICU medical staff in order to improve their hand hygiene compliance, thus, reducing the rate of nosocomial infection and ensuring patient safety. METHODS Firstly, the CQI team was organized and trained, the current status was investigated by using the circulation of PDCA and CQI, the existing problems were analyzed to find out the reasons. Then, the target value of hand hygiene compliance was set to 80%, and improvement measures were employed. RESULTS The total hand hygiene compliance rate of ICU medical staff and the hand hygiene compliance of doctors and nurses(94.3%, 90.9%,95.6%) are significantly higher than the former rate(76.3%,74.3%,79.5%),and the differences have statistical significance(P<0.01), after the application of continuous quality improvement.CONCLUSION The application of continuous quality improvement of hand hygiene of the hospital ICU medical staff can significantly improve their awareness of hand hygiene and the hand hygiene compliance.