Proventix Records the 10 Millionth Handwash

Proventix Systems, Inc. of Birmingham, Ala. has recorded more than 10 million handwashing events to date resulting from a push by hospitals across the country to improve patient safety through increased hand hygiene. Proventix captures hand hygiene events around the clock, boasting the largest 24/7 hand hygiene database.

By installing Proventix's nGage hand hygiene monitoring system, U.S. healthcare facilities have improved handwashing practices, reduced healthcare-associated infections, decreased patient length of stay and cut healthcare costs.

A portion of this increased effort to improve patient safety stems from the Putting Power into Healthcare Initiative, or PPHI, a partnership between Alabama Power, 27 Alabama hospitals and Proventix. PPHI marked the first statewide effort ever to use a sophisticated, data-backed network that encourages and measures handwashing across multiple hospitals in a single state.

Proper hand hygiene has long been accepted as the most effective means to reduce and eliminate unnecessary spread of infection in hospitals. nGage offers the healthcare industry a solution to effectively measure hand hygiene at the point of care and motivate caregivers to increase handwashing to reduce infection, improve patient outcomes and saves lives.

Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala., conducted a study to verify that their 22 percent reduction in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) with use of the nGage system was reproducible. Princeton expanded the system to their Medical Intensive Care Unit for a six-month study period. HAI data trends were assessed based on infection markers which decreased by 35.1 percent when compared to the same months in the previous year. The reduction in infection markers corresponded to a decrease of 239 patient days and a reduction in net losses of $200,079. Additional studies with similar results will soon be made available.

Proventix CEO Harvey Nix says, "The evidence that we are making a difference is in the numbers. The amount of data found in 10 million handwashes gives hospitals insights to improve workflow efficiencies so they can do even more for their patients. Increased handwashing correlates with decreased infection, cost savings and most importantly, a safer patient environment. The nGage system reveals a solid business case, demonstrates community support and sets a standard for wider U.S. consideration."