Soap-Sniffing Technology Encourages Handwashing

Call it a Breathalyzer for the hands. Using sensors capable of detecting drugs in breath, new technology developed at University of Florida monitors healthcare workers' hand hygiene by detecting sanitizer or soap fumes given off from their hands.

By reminding workers to clean their hands to remove disease-causing organisms such as the bacteria MRSA, the system could help reduce hospital-acquired infections and save millions of dollars now spent to treat them.

The trademarked system, called HyGreen, logs, down to the second, the frequency of hand cleaning and contact with patients in a database that clinical supervisors can review immediately. This is the first system that enables real-time monitoring of handwashing.

"This isn't big brother, this is just another tool," said Richard J. Melker, MD, PhD, a UF College of Medicine anesthesiology professor who developed the technology along with professors Donn Dennis, MD, and Nikolaus Gravenstein, MD, of the anesthesiology department, and Christopher Batich, PhD, a materials science professor in the College of Engineering. "A hospital worker never wants to be responsible for someone getting sick or dying from an infection acquired in the hospital."

HyGreen is now being tested in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at Shands at UF medical center, and will be presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology June 6-9 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Here's how it works: The healthcare worker squirts sanitizer gel or soap into his or her hand before passing it under a wall-mounted sensor. A wireless signal from a badge worn by the worker activates a green light on the hand-washing sensor. When the worker enters a patient room, a monitor near the bed detects the status of the badge, and flashes green if the person has clean hands. If the person has not washed, or too much time has passed between washing and approaching the patient, the badge will give a gentle "reminder" vibration.