Hand hygiene quality improvement by the Semmelweis Scanner

-

Hand hygiene (HH) is believed to be the most efficient tool in fighting hospital-acquired infections. Despite years of effort, caregivers’ HH compliance remain low. In this study we investigated how the Semmelweis Scanner can result HH quality improvement through automated training.


Caregivers were involved from a MICU and a NICU at an USA hospital in 2017. Caregiver’s hand hygiene technique was regularly monitored by the Semmelweis Scanner. The system computed the Semmelweis Hand Hygiene Quality (SHHQ) score (0–100), which indicated the quality of HH. Hand hygiene was considered appropriate if 95+ SHHQ was reached. The integrated reporting system provided real-time statistics about HH at a personal and institutional level.

92 caregivers took part in the program. The average SHHQ achieved by the MICU was 85±18% (mean ± standard deviation) and 89 ±14% by the NICU. Most frequently missed areas were the thumbs and the fingertips. Rate of appropriate HH improved at both units: only 28% of people passed on the first 4 days of the trial, while 81% passed in the last 4 days.

Digital HH training and evaluation allows for systematic, personalized data collection, and it makes it possible to reach a larger fraction of the staff. This technique can reveal typical week points in the caregivers’ HH practices, and can be used efficiently to improve HH quality.


View our poster

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fluorescent Hand Hygiene Control

-
Image
What is the fluorescent trial and how can we apply it? For testing one’s hand hygiene, the two most commonly used methods are the  microbiological sampling  and the fluorescent dying method. In this post, we discuss the fluorescent method in details. The fluorescent method was developed to assess the hand hygiene technique. Health-care workers should perform handrubbing as they usually do, the only difference is that the handrub contains a fluorescent dye. After the hand hygiene event, hands should be placed under (harmless) UV-A light. Regions of hand surface treated with proper amount of fluorescent handrub glow, where untreated areas remain dark. Figure 1:  Images of a hand recorded in visible light (A) and in UV light (B) during the fluorescent method. ( Source:  HandInScan) The phenomenon of fluorescence occurs when a substance (the dye) absorbs light (energy) and instantly reemits light at a longer wavelength. In this special case, the absorbed light is in the ultravio
Read more

Alternatives for the WHO 6-step Protocol

-
Image
Last time we wrote about the current 6-step hand hygiene protocol, which formed the base of the EN1500 and WHO hand hygiene recommendations. There are two problems with the 6-step protocol, that are often reported. First, it takes too long to perform.  Kampf 2008   reported that performing the 6-steps protocol accurately lasts on average 75 s, while the guideline only requires 30 s. Figure 1 : The 6-step from WHO ‘How to handrub’ and ‘How to handwash’ guide  [1]. Second, according to several studies, 6 steps are too many to remember. In  Silva 2014 ,  healthcare professionals were asked about hand hygiene; 98.6% of them replied that they feel very motivated to perform hand hygiene, yet, 38% failed to report the steps of the hand washing technique adequately.  Arias 2015  evaluated the compliance of the 6-step by direct observation, and found that while the first two step’s compliance was 100%, thumbs (step5) and fingertips (step6) were achieved only in 15% and 37% of the cas
Read more

How to Handrub?

-
Image
Taylor 1978  examined the hand surface coverage during hand hygiene with alcohol, and found that 89% missed some parts of their hands. Missed parts were usually the thumbs and fingertips .
Read more