TeleTracking Technologies' real-time hand hygiene sensor in place at New Cross Hospital in West Midlands, U.K., has officially recorded one-million hand hygiene observations, yielding data nearly 1,700 times higher resolution than visual observations recorded over the same period.
The technology is part of the U.K.'s Safe Hands initiative, which is focused on improving hand hygiene compliance to reduce antibiotic resistance in healthcare-acquired infections.
The body of hand hygiene observations has been collected over the past nine months through electronic badges issued to nearly 4,000 employees, all inpatients and 1,226 material assets. The badge system allows TeleTracking programs to record when staff wash their hands as well as when staff and patients come into contact.
This type of extended tracking system, while currently rare, has the potential to be a powerful epidemiological tool. With real-time interaction data for staff and patients, healthcare professionals may more quickly identify and quarantine patients with common HAIs like norovirus and C. diff, effectively limiting the spread of hospital infections and reducing the likelihood such organisms are able to acquire antibiotic resistance.
A separate benefit of the tracking system: As housekeeping is notified as soon as a patient badge is deactivated for discharge, hospital beds at New Cross are now available in as little as 40 minutes, according to a news release.
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