An independent research study carried out at the John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas to determine the impact on hand hygiene compliance rates showed that compliance rates almost doubled when the hospital hand hygiene programme included an electronic compliance activity monitoring system. The compliance technology system used in the study was the GOJO SMARTLINK Activity Monitoring System, from GOJO Industries, a leader in hand hygiene and skin health and inventor of PURELL hand sanitiser.
During the study, the GOJO SMARTLINK Activity Monitoring System was installed to monitor all patient room entries and exits and all hand hygiene events from GOJO touch-free soap or PURELL hand sanitiser dispensers. Compliance was measured as number of events in contrast to number of opportunities, and included the entire community, not only healthcare workers.
The study lasted for three months during which period a comprehensive hand hygiene programme for healthcare workers, patient and visitors was implemented. Additional education was established, including the development of a hand hygiene improvement goal, leadership support and feedback opportunities for the staff.
The authors concluded that during the study period from June to September 2012, there was a 92% increase in hand hygiene compliance rates (from 16.5% at baseline to 31.7%) when an electronic monitoring system was included in a hand hygiene programme. During the post-study period the rate decreased to 25.8%, still significantly above baseline.
'Through the study, we found that implementation of an electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system as part of a clinical hand hygiene programme can significantly increase hand hygiene compliance,' said Sarah Edmonds, GOJO scientist and lead author of the study. 'We also are aware that additional data is needed to better understand the impact of electronic compliance monitoring programmes on clinical outcomes, such as infection rates.'
