Hand Sanitation Monitor Survey
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Hand Sanitation Monitor-Clinician Survey
In today’s society with the advances in control of infectious diseases, hand washing still remains a non-standard practice in many hospitals around the United States. Lack of hand hygiene can lead to hospital acquired infections (now known as healthcare-associated infections, HAI) which affect millions of patients every year. Some of these are known as MRSA, VRE, C. diff, etc.
In general it has been shown that HAIs are reduced in a hospital setting when there are increased compliance rates for hand-washing. This can result in healthier patients and decreased healthcare costs.
At the University of Minnesota, one of our Biomedical Engineering undergraduate senior design groups is currently trying to design a device that would measure hand-washing compliance. As a first step towards designing any device, we want to research every aspect of hand washing and all the consequences that go along with non-compliance.
Some products currently on the market are the HyGreen, the HyGenius, and the BioVigil systems. The HyGenius is a sink system that dispenses the correct amount of soap as well as a timer to remind the healthcare worker to wash for the proper amount of time. Their electronic ID number is recorded when they are using the sink (via a small sensor worn by the healthcare worker) and it is stored in a database. The HyGreen system uses a remote ID tag that the healthcare worker wears that emits a small radio-frequency signal that communicates with the sensor on the soap dispenser and the patient bed. As the healthcare worker approaches the sink/soap dispenser, their ID is recorded automatically, electronically, and wirelessly which is stored in a database. If they wash their hands before approaching a patient, a small green light near the patient bedside acknowledges that- the bedside sensor looks in the database and finds that the ID of the nearby healthcare worker has washed his/her hands within a certain short time span. If not, the sensor will emit a red light, letting the worker know that he or she needs to wash their hands. The data is stored in a database that can be used to review hand hygiene habits and get up-to-the-minute hand hygiene compliance rates. The BioVigil system is similar to the HyGreen except that it uses breathalyzer technology on a small sensor worn on the front of the healthcare worker's clothing. If the sensor detects alcohol on the hands then it is acknowledged that they used hand sanitizer.
As mentioned above, we are still in the research stage of our project and are trying to get as much information about hand hygiene so any and all information that you would be able to share with us would be of great help. Also as we become more knowledgeable in the project area, it is our goal to come up with a sound design and eventually a usable prototype to address this problem. There are obvious flaws and ways to "beat the system" with the above mentioned products so we want to design something that works better.
In addition to the device being user friendly, the monitor must be able to detect that the hand washing was of sufficient duration to be effective, with the proper materials (e.g. alcohol or soap). Reporting capability is key so that compliance rates can be measured and trended with this device.
The questions below will help is get a better understanding of the user needs in terms of the doctors and nurses that see patients on a day-to-day basis.
*** Please note that all of your responses will be kept confidential and none of your responses will be identified with your name or place of work if provided. We are required to submit text transcripts of all responses but any identifying information will be censored. Once project is completed all records will be destroyed. ***
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