Infection Control Today Magazine

Hand Hygiene Measurement

Direct Observation, Handrub Consumption Not Correlated, Study Finds

Direct observation (DO) and alcohol-based handrub (ABHR) consumption (AC) per 1,000 patient days are used to monitor hand hygiene (HH) performance in healthcare, and are increasingly utilized as quality indicators, sometimes for external benchmarking. Infection prevention ...More
July 29, 2011
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Researchers Caution Against Bias in Hand Hygiene Compliance Reporting

In a research brief in the August 2010 issue of Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, Sorabh Dhar, MD, and colleagues at Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University in Detroit, describe the results of their study addressing differences in reported hand ...More
August 13, 2010
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Direct Observation Not Always the Best Way to Assess Hand Hygiene

Researchers from Brazil and the United States report on results from their study suggesting that direct observation cannot be considered to be the "gold standard" for assessing hand hygiene compliance. Marra, et al. (2010) compared three measures of hand hygiene adherence ...More
August 13, 2010
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Xhale Innovations Receives Patent for Handwashing Compliance Detection System

Dr. Richard Melker, chief technology officer for Xhale Innovations (XI), along with co-inventors Dr. Donn Dennis, chief science officer for XI, and Drs. Christopher Batich and Nikolaus Gravenstein from the University of Florida, have been awarded U.S. Patent No. 7,755494, ...More
July 30, 2010
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Hand Hygiene Measurement and Improvement Product Achieves New Milestone

Cognetive Systems, Inc. announces that its wireless sensor product used for hand hygiene measurement and improvement, Intelligent Hygiene, was utilized in a large scale research effort conducted jointly by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Unilever. The ...More
October 19, 2009
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Product Usage Measurement, Feedback Boost Hand Hygiene Compliance

The message that hand hygiene can prevent healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) is clear, yet compliance remains an infection preventionist (IP)’s significant challenge. McGuckin, et al. (2009), in their 12-month multi-center collaboration assessing hand hygiene ...More
May 28, 2009
Posted in Articles, Hand Hygiene