American Journal of Infection Control published a study which found healthcare facilities that implemented DebMed Electronic Hand Hygiene Compliance System reduced their incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus healthcare-acquired while yielding substantial cost savings.
Researchers conducted the study, "Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring as a Tool for Reducing Healthcare-Associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection," at Greenville (S.C.) Health System.
Here are five takeaways:
1. The facilities increased hand hygiene compliance by 25.5 percent when using DebMed Electronic Hand Hygiene Compliance System.
2. When using the tool, the hospitals reduced their MRSA HAI rates by 42 percent.
3. The health system accrued $434,000 in cost savings from avoiding additional care costs.
4. The DebMed System used WHO Five Moments for Hand Hygiene guidelines when devising the tool.
5. HAIs cause 75,000 deaths each year as well as 700,000 infections.
"This breakthrough research proves that real-time electronic monitoring of hand hygiene compliance based on the WHO Five Moments can lead to clinically important organizational change and improved patient safety," said J. William Kelly, MD, infectious disease specialist at GHS and principal investigator of the study.
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