Monitoring Hand Hygiene

It has been estimated that one in 25 patients admitted to a hospital will acquire an infection. Despite the ubiquity of hand gel dispensers and continuous efforts to educate personnel, poor hand hygiene still remains one of the leading causes. So researchers are looking to technology to find a solution.

In one study, a camera-based system running computer-vision algorithms was used to analyze human movement patterns and measure hand hygiene compliance. The system collected images from two hospital wards overlooking the corridors, patient rooms and gel dispensers. Of the 170 individuals recorded, only 30 used the dispensers properly. The system was then modified to detect healthcare staff and track their hand hygiene exclusively. The results indicated that the algorithm was 75 percent accurate in determining whether staff used the dispensers, compared to human monitoring, which resulted in 63 percent accuracy.

The investigators envision that a system such as this could become part of a more comprehensive “smart hospital” program designed to increase hospital efficiency and improve patient care. This type of surveillance will provide important insights and objective data that sometimes escapes human observers.