Technology and Prevention

IC prevention is a complex mix of clinical knowledge, problem solving, and everyday monitoring of key behaviors.

For more than 150 years now, healthcare has had hand hygiene as a priority to prevent infections. It is now widely accepted and backed up with numbers and research that proper hand hygiene reduces infections. However, compliance remains unacceptably low, hovering between 20% and 50% for most hospitals, with only a few moving past 50%.

Over the past 20 years of study, there is no evidence that compliance has improved. What can be done?

Our technology is used to focus on those behaviors, namely hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, and overall program management.

The systems we are developing in conjunction with IC professionals make use of the latest mobile technology, enabling IC professionals to eliminate their daily manual data collection and entry with a fully automated handheld system.  This allows professionals to focus on action, with real time real time results, and accurate information.

How technology facilitates behavioral change:

Data to Information

Information is key to effectively managing a successful and sustainable Infection Control program. To create information, one must be able to collect data.  Walsh’s hand held tools allow IC teams to easily collect and manage all sorts of data, quickly address key issues, and instantly report and act on those findings.

 Tracking and monitoring compliance in hand hygiene measures:

• How often people are washing their hands?

• Are they following proper procedures?

• When are non compliance situations arising?

• Are there recurring behaviors that cause non-compliance?

• Is it possible to identify trends?

• Is staff aware of regulations?

• When were staff last trained?

• Did anyone measure the effectiveness of those training programs?

• How should training be delivered, what should it contain, who

should it target?

• Should there be priority units or shifts?

• Are you able to meet your audit /observation goals?

• Does your staff have the right tools to perform the needed

observations?

• Does staff have enough time to do the observations?

• Is data input and analyzed in a timely manner?

Information to Action

The efforts in many monitoring programs is lost because

• Data takes too long to collect

• Data input is time consuming or late or never done

• Reports are difficult to get or do not exist

• There is no time left over to analyze the data

• Inconsistent data destroys the potential for trend reporting or statistical analysis

By automating the data collection, management and reporting , we will be freeing up the IC professional to correct non-compliant behaviors instead of just documenting it.

 Action to Sustainable behavior change and improved compliance