Successful use of alcohol sensor technology to monitor and report hand hygiene compliance

Edmond, Michael B.; Goodell, Amanda L.; Zuelzer, Wilhelm A.; Sanogo, Kakotan; Elam, Kara; Bearman, Gonzalo

doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2010.07.006

Cited by 50 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Consensus guidelines and recommendations regarding hand hygiene have been produced through the WHO and descriptions on how they can be introduced have been published in [23,24]. Automated audits of hand hygiene have recently been trialled [25-27], but these are limited to monitoring compliance to the 5 moments rather than the quality of application as intended via the 6 steps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large-scale assessment of hand hygiene quality and the effectiveness of the “WHO 6-steps”

et al. 2013

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BackgroundHand hygiene compliance is generally assessed by observation of adherence to the “WHO five moments” using numbers of opportunities as the denominator. The quality of the activity is usually not monitored since there is no established methodology for the routine assessment of hand hygiene technique. The aim of this study was to objectively assess hand rub coverage of staff using a novel imaging technology and to look for patterns and trends in missed areas after the use of WHO’s 6 Step technique.MethodsA hand hygiene education and assessment program targeted 5200 clinical staff over 7 days at the National University Hospital, Singapore. Participants in small groups were guided by professional trainers through 5 educational stations, which included technique-training and UV light assessment supported by digital photography of hands. Objective criteria for satisfactory hand hygiene quality were defined a priori. The database of images created during the assessment program was analyzed subsequently. Patterns of poor hand hygiene quality were identified and linked to staff demographic.ResultsDespite the assessment taking place immediately after the training, only 72% of staff achieved satisfactory coverage. Failure to adequately clean the dorsal and palmar aspects of the hand occurred in 24% and 18% of the instances, respectively. Fingertips were missed by 3.5% of subjects. The analysis based on 4642 records showed that nurses performed best (77% pass), and women performed better than men (75% vs. 62%, p<0.001). Further risk indicators have been identified regarding age and occupation.ConclusionOngoing education and training has a vital role in improving hand hygiene compliance and technique of clinical staff. Identification of typical sites of failure can help to develop improved training.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large-scale assessment of hand hygiene quality and the effectiveness of the “WHO 6-steps”

et al. 2013

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“…A number of studies have reported that hand hygiene activity amongst healthcare workers improved with the use of human auditors; however, there are concerns with observer and selection biases as well as with the Hawthorne effect [ 22 ]. More recently, improvement to hand hygiene compliance has been shown with the use of video monitoring systems, alcohol sensor systems, and individual healthcare worker wireless devices; although the use of these systems seems to be limited by high installation and/or maintenance costs [ 7 – 9 , 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Prospective Controlled Trial of an Electronic Hand Hygiene Reminder System

Ellison

Barysauskas

Rundensteiner

et al. 2015

Open Forum Infectious Diseases

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“…The system has no capability to provide notifications or reminders. In [8], a system to detect the use of alcohol based sanitizer is presented. An alcohol sensor is used to detect the vaporization that comes from the hand after a use of the sanitizer.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harmony: A Hand Wash Monitoring and Reminder System using Smart Watches

Mondol¹,

Stankovic²

2015

Proceedings of the 12th EAI International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Computing, Networking and Services

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Hand hygiene compliance is extremely important in hospitals, clinics and food businesses. Caregivers' compliance with hand hygiene is one of the most effective tools in preventing healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in hospitals and clinics. In food businesses, hand hygiene compliance is essential to prevent food contamination, and thus food borne illness. Washing hands properly is the cornerstone of hand hygiene. However, the hand wash compliance rate by the workers (care givers, waiters, chefs, food processors and so on) is not up to the mark. Monitoring hand wash compliance along with a reminder system increases the compliance rate significantly. Quality of a hand wash is also important which can be achieved by washing hands in accordance with standard guidelines. In this paper, we present Harmony, a hand wash monitoring and reminder system that monitors hand wash events and their quality, provides real time feedback, reminds the person of interest when he/she is required to wash hands, and stores related data in a server for further use. Worker worn smart watches are the key components of Harmony that can differentiate hand wash gestures from other gestures with an average accuracy of about 88%. Harmony is robust, scalable, and easy to install, and it overcomes most of the problems of existing related systems.

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Successful use of alcohol sensor technology to monitor and report hand hygiene compliance

Cited by 50 publications

References 5 publications

A large-scale assessment of hand hygiene quality and the effectiveness of the “WHO 6-steps”

A large-scale assessment of hand hygiene quality and the effectiveness of the “WHO 6-steps”

A Prospective Controlled Trial of an Electronic Hand Hygiene Reminder System

Harmony: A Hand Wash Monitoring and Reminder System using Smart Watches

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