Infection Control – hand-hygiene monitoring system

The Intelligent Hygiene (iH) system for hand-hygiene monitoring is operational in UK and US, having been developed by PSL Associate Cognetive Systems and modified to suit the needs of the UK market. Developed for the Food Service, Hospitality, Healthcare, Nursing Home and other markets where proper Hand Hygiene is critical, iH is the first wireless system for measuring and improving Hand Hygiene performance. This patented application of wireless sensor technology is based on a simple premise: if something is important, measure it; and If you want it to improve, track measurements against a goal.

Intelligent Hygiene (iH) operates under a different philosophy from other hand hygiene monitoring systems. iH is devoid of RFID badges or other methods for identification of discreet individuals and therefore does not monitor, record or report individual behaviour. iH is a measurement and behaviour modification tool which measures and reports the hand hygiene performance for an entire group or team e.g. a hospital ward. Focusing on team performance generates mutual accountability for a group’s success and eliminates individual’s privacy concerns. Because hand wash event data is obtained automatically, and collected wirelessly, the iH system is virtually invisible and incurs no labour costs for collecting, processing, and presenting the team’s hand hygiene performance against corporate goals.

• iH measures hand-hygiene performance against a goal, eliminating the cost of badges, individual identification and privacy concerns
• iH sensors are fitted invisibly into dispenser housings
• Hygiene performance data is collected and processed wirelessly and without additional labour
• May be implemented in a single location, or scaled upward to support multiple sites
• The iH sensor network backbone may be utilized by other sensors, e.g. Temperature, Humidity, Door Status, etc.

Additional Features:

• iH wireless sensors may be configured to operate with most touch-free soap or sanitizer dispensers, and some mechanically activated manual dispensers. iH sensors are virtually invisible, fitting neatly inside dispenser housings. iH sensors detect handwash events and they then forward the data wirelessly to the iH Gateway, where handwash event statistics are processed.
• Hand hygiene performance data is accessed by secured logon to the iH Gateway over a local intranet connection, or remotely via the Internet. The iH Gateway hosts a web-based application, allowing site-by-site hand hygiene performance review and comparison. Hand hygiene performance reports are customizable and may be based on common team events, such as by shift or by day, or common management metrics, such as the number of meals served or the number of hospital bed-days. This approach enables the team to view and improve performance as a group, without singling out any individual. This results in improved hand hygiene performance while individual privacy is respected and maintained.
• The iH system is scalable and can be implemented in a single location, or may be implemented in larger multi-site locations, allowing site by site hand hygiene performance review and comparison.