Healthcare workers improved their hand-washing technique by using an automated hand hygiene training system in one study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.
In the study, nearly 800 medical and nursing staff members at an Australian tertiary hospital volunteered to participate in the study.
Participants were instructed to place their hands under a video camera as they mimicked each of the seven World Health Organization-recommended hand hygiene poses. The video used gaming technology to track the motion of dry hands mimicking the poses.
Automated feedback from the system found 77 percent of participants passed pose 1 (palm to palm), the highest pass rate, while pose six (clean thumbs) had the lowest pass rate at 27 percent. Additionally, 86 percent expressed a high level of satisfaction with the automated training system.
Despite the positive feedback, the hospital saw little change in hand hygiene compliance rates after the introduction of the system. Ultimately, the researchers concluded the system plays an important educational role, but not a compliance improvement role.
More articles on hand hygiene:
Direct observation dramatically boosts hand hygiene compliance
Hand hygiene: 5 popular stories in March
Patient safety tool: Dartmouth-Hitchcock's hand hygiene video