Patented invention detects all 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene
RALEIGH, N.C., May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — The Centers for Disease Control and prevention estimated roughly 1.7 million hospital-associated infections occur annually, which cause or contribute to 99,000 deaths each year. The major cause of these infections is inadequate aseptic techniques during intravenous, ventilator, catheter insertion or surgical procedures, resulting in additional hospital costs exceeding $30 billion. The CDC is quoted as saying, "over one half of all Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI's) are preventable." Current studies show that healthcare workers (HCW's) fail to comply with proper hand hygiene practices more than 60% of the time. The sad reality for patients is, the association of poor hand hygiene and HAI's has been well known for over 150 years, yet little has been done to effectively change this neglectful behavior by healthcare workers.
Healthquest Technologies repurposes iPad technology to detect person-to-person contact! The now familiar touch detection technology one uses to input and access information on the iPhone or iPad screen (capacitive touch technology) has resulted in a one-of-its-kind U.S. patent No. 7,893,842 being issued to Dr. Richard Deutsch of Raleigh NC, for a hygiene monitoring and compliance record system that actively detects patient or bed contact by caregivers while observing their hand hygiene activities, thereby assuring near 100% heath care worker compliance with the World Health Organization's infection prevention 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene. Additionally, new technology developed by Dr. Deutsch can now detect unsanitized caregiver contact with a patient's intravenous line. Infections arising from patient IV contamination are an important and deadly type of hospital infection with reported mortality of 12%–25%.
This new and innovative monitoring technology provides a means for determining the exact moment of actual physical contact between the healthcare worker, the patient, and their bed, ventilator or IV. Person-to-person or person to medical device contact generates color coded graphics on an iPad like display screen reflecting caregiver hygiene status while simultaneously activating color coded lights on caregiver and patient vibrating wrist bands and badges.
In contrast to the level of precise monitoring demonstrated by the new "Safe-Hands" method of "point of care' hygiene surveillance, previous attempts at hand hygiene monitoring used RFID tags on badges to track a caregivers general location within a patients room while offering confusing claims of being "Based On" WHO's 5 moments, thereby simply guessing at the caregivers contamination and hand sanitizing opportunities while attending the patient.
Upon review, world-renowned expert in HAI's Dr. William Jarvis is quoted as saying, "Hand hygiene is a critical and essential element in HAI prevention. Any technology that can detect and promote hand hygiene during the most important healthcare worker activities, i.e., patient and patient medical device contact, should become the standard for promoting hand hygiene."
Facilities for this point of care hand hygiene monitoring and compliance documenting innovation include hospitals and outpatient medical facilities (including emergency departments, hemodialysis, endoscopy clinic, long-term care facilities etc.). Strategic partner inquiries are welcomed. Pictures, descriptions and additional details for the Safe-Hands hygiene monitoring system can be found at
Contact; Dr. Richard Deutsch
Phone (919) 825-4606
Email