def count_total_num_hits(outlist_hits):
    """
    Counts total number of family hits

    :param outlist_hits: A dictionary in the form of {rfamseq_acc: [(s1,e1),...]

    :return: Total number of hits found in the dictionary
    """

    total_num_hits = 0

    for accession in outlist_hits.keys():
        total_num_hits += len(outlist_hits[accession])

    return total_num_hits