Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 31st October 2024 Issue no. 1136
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Kontakt.io launches new hand hygiene solution to reimagine hospital compliance and staff engagement
Healthcare real-time location systems and digital transformation specialist, Kontakt.io, has released a new cloud-based hand hygiene solution. Delivered as a managed service, it goes beyond Joint Commission compliance.
It enables caregivers to actively engage in infection prevention while providing innovative tools that track the spread of contagious diseases and manage dispenser availability.
Poor hand hygiene has been said to account for 20% of hospital-acquired infections, leading to serious health complications, prolonged hospital stays, increased healthcare costs and even death. Treating HAIs costs the US healthcare system alone, up to $45B in total or $45,000 per licensed bed per year.
Despite the clear urgency, today's hand hygiene compliance rates remain strikingly low. The primary barrier is the intense workload of clinical staff and unpredictable emergencies that require immediate attention. Additionally, malfunctioning and empty hand sanitiser dispensers further discourage staff compliance.
"As a nurse, I feel the immense pressures and relentless schedules that can hinder hand hygiene compliance," says Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN, FAAN, Chief Nursing Officer at Kontakt.io. “Reactive and punitive measures only add to the burden, which is why we should create solutions that care teams can depend on.
"This new hand hygiene solution gives proactive, gentle reminders before patient care without disrupting staff workflow. Through gamification, we can turn hand hygiene into a positive, incentivised practice. Our goal is to support and encourage caregivers, enhancing both their wellbeing and patient safety."
Key benefits of Kontakt.io's Hand Hygiene solution include:
* Real-time monitoring and reminders… Powered by Kontakt.io's Staff-Safe enabled Smart Badge 3 - the latest wearable BLE cardholder for staff - the solution uses real-time location (RTLS) to track staff in and out of patient rooms and identify every wash-in or wash-out opportunity. The hand sanitiser dispenser module sends real-time in-room reminders before staff proceed to care activities.
* Simplified reporting… Cloud analytics deliver compliance data and trends across departments and facilities at a glance and generate compliance reports for Joint Commission requirements at the click of a button. It allows hospitals to drill down and compare data by geography, facility, department, individual, time, and more to further investigate hidden patterns and risks.
* Compliance gamification... The solution incorporates gamification in the Kio Nurse mobile app to help staff track and earn rewards for participation, resulting in increased hand hygiene engagement and fostering positive behaviour change.
* Automated dispenser management… Introducing dispenser M2M, the hand hygiene solution notifies users when a soap or sanitising gel dispenser is empty, broken, or malfunctioning, ensuring that dispensers are operational and ready to use at all times.
* Infection chain tracing... Using interaction-based contact tracing, the solution helps infection prevention teams roll back time, identify and isolate at-risk subjects, and contribute to rapid containment, targeted treatment, and learning.
"We have reimagined and democratised hand hygiene compliance so caregivers become stakeholders in this positive behavioural change," says Rom Eizenberg, chief revenue officer and head of product innovation at Kontakt.io. "The Hand Hygiene solution is part of our continuous investment in an AI platform that serves as a central nervous system for hospitals. By consolidating enterprise data, we help health systems better connect the dots and gain previously inaccessible insights to improve care, safety, and revenue."
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