Throughout two wards in the renowned hospital, more than 45 disinfectant dispensers are equipped with the innovative ingo-man® SmartNose to optimize hand hygiene.
How can hand disinfecting behavior be precisely measured and improved at the same time? This is the question that hygiene specialists at Zollernalb Klinikum have been working tirelessly to address. Until now, hand hygiene compliance has only been measured by the quantities of disinfectant ordered. This method makes it hard to reach reliable conclusions about the effectiveness of hygiene measures. The search for a solution that would lead to more accurate insights led the head of hospital hygiene team, Markus Maucher, to the ingo-man® SmartNose.
The SmartNose is both simple and innovative. The smart unit can be installed on conventional Euro dispensers of the ingo-man® plus series in just a few steps. Once installed, it automatically records every single hand disinfection with an associated timestamp and the dispenser location. This information is sent securely to the cloud for analysis. Through the OPHARDT Hygiene Monitoring System® (OHMS) (new name Kanary) software, comprehensive data analysis and reports are available to the hygiene department of the Baden-Württemberg clinic at the click of a button. The person responsible for hygiene, Markus Maucher, sees the detailed measurement as “appealing in this respect… in order to illuminate and improve hand hygiene procedures.”
It is worth clarifying that the system cannot track individuals hand hygiene behavior, instead it promotes group goal-setting, which was an essential requirement of the clinic’s decision-making body.
The OHMS web app‘s clear home screen also lists information on bottle fill levels, battery levels, or rarely used dispensers, which helps increase the availability of hand hygiene opportunities.
Even without additional intervention, the ingo-man® SmartNose improves hand hygiene compliance all by itself through the direct feedback it offers. As soon as hospital staff dispense the recommended amount of hand sanitizer from the dispenser, a green feedback LED lights up for a short time, providing positive visual feedback.
ingo-man® SmartNose impressed at hygiene congress
A product presentation at the prestigious Berlin Hospital Hygiene Workshop at the beginning of 2020 set the course for the introduction of this digital hygiene solution. After all the decision-makers were convinced of the advantages of automatic, electronic recording, the decision was made to install it.
Initially, Zollernalb Klinikum are equipping the Central Emergency Department (ZNA) at the Balingen site with the smart disinfectant dispensers. The ward treats around 60,000 emergency patients per year and needs optimal hygiene equipment as part of its initial medical care. Further devices will be put into operation at the clinic site in Albstadt, for a total of 48 intelligent hand disinfectant dispensers to actively support hand hygiene. Following a successful introductory phase, the clinic plans to extend the installation to other wards.
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