by C. diff concerns led one hospital to a coaching system that automatically reminds the wearer of its badge to “wash” with the appropriate protocol.
Moving from a general population room where alcohol hand sanitizer is the standard to a C. diff room can easily result in a caregiver’s temporary lapse of memory and the inappropriate use of alcohol hand sanitizer.
If they made that error they are gently reminded and their badge color changes. It reverts back to green as soon as a soap-water wash is completed.
So, what does nursing say? The dramatic cut in their C. diff rate has made nursing the champions for this innovation. C. diff dropped over 50%, in the 6 months following the installation of this handwash monitoring system. They were weary chasing all the potential C. diff sources over the preceding months. They now had a 24/7 coach which also helped to automatically produce otherwise time-consuming reports. Smiles all around for this BioVigil implementation.
Note: This hospital’s project approval process was led by a duo of Infection Prevention and Risk Management. Brand protection is becoming a major driver in choosing to automate hand hygiene verification.
