Hill-Rom Announces Partnerships with GOJO and TeleTracking for Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitoring

Hill-Rom, a provider of clinical workflow solutions for hospitals, has announced major partnerships with GOJO, makers of Purell® hand sanitizer, and TeleTracking Technologies, a provider of real-time healthcare patient flow systems, to co-market integrations with the Hill-Rom® Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution. The partnerships debuted this week at HIMSS in Orlando, Fla.

Hand hygiene is a straightforward and effective method of preventing costly and deadly hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), yet many hospitals struggle to achieve even 50 percent compliance with recommended protocols. The Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution continually monitors the patient care environment, reminding key personnel about critical handwashing events, and providing the data for sustainability.  Institutions that have implemented the Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution have experienced a significant increase in their hand hygiene compliance.

"The Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution helps hospitals address significant challenges they face responding to regulatory requirements," says Adam McMullin, vice president and general manager for Hill-Rom Clinical Workflow Solutions. "The Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution is a great example of our technology platform, which is designed to automate the clinical environment, help enhance productivity and safety, as well as the patient experience."

Hill-Rom and GOJO have developed an integrated hand hygiene solution for hospitals and health care facilities to effectively monitor hand hygiene compliance.  For the Hill-Rom and GOJO integrated solution, the GOJO SMARTLINK Technology is installed into PROVON® soap and PURELL® hand sanitizer dispensers and works with the Hill-Rom real-time locating solution (RTLS). The hands-free dispenser was designed for the healthcare environment and features an internal wireless transmitter that lights up an external window when a staff member uses the dispenser and that data is recorded. 

"The name GOJO is synonymous with hand hygiene around the world," says McMullin. "Hospitals now have the opportunity to leverage the impact of two trusted brands to support their efforts at increasing hand hygiene compliance and fighting HAIs."

GOJO compliance program director for North America, Jeff Hall, says, "Engaging in this critical work with a healthcare leader like Hill-Rom is significant. The biggest reason an electronic monitoring system is necessary is that it allows for measurement and accountability. In order to help improve hand hygiene, we need to give hospitals the tools to measure it and the clinical education resources to interpret the data."

Real-time locating solutions are essential in today's over-stretched hospital. Without them, nurses and other staff may waste countless hours searching for equipment, supplies or even fellow staff members and following inefficient procedures, all of which takes away time from their primary mission: patient care.

AssetTracking from TeleTracking Technologies is a leading RTLS that hospitals depend on for usable information on equipment and supplies for staff throughout the organization, from a nurse in need of specific supplies for a patient to an IT manager trying to locate equipment for preventative maintenance. The partnership announced at HIMSS will provide hospitals with the ability to use the same locating infrastructure to enable solutions that provide at-a-glance visibility to everything from equipment location to staff workflow and hand hygiene compliance. 

"RTLS systems ensure nurses and other staff members can quickly put their hands on what they need, when they need it," says McMullin. "Now, the same locating technology will also be able to measure if those hands are clean.  We are pleased to be working with TeleTracking, a leader in the field, to provide this integration for customers of both systems."

"We are committed to leveraging the power of technology to sustain and improve processes within a hospital to improve patient care," says Mike Gallup, president of TeleTracking Technologies. "Our partnership with Hill-Rom is an exciting extension of that mission, helping our customers bring together an essential monitoring system and provide another vital view of their organization's daily operations."

Source: Hill-Rom