MONITORING HAND HYGIENE

• US 20110291841A1
• Filed: 05/27/2011
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infrared Integrated Systems, Ltd. (Fortive Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Infrared Integrated Systems, Ltd. (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Cross, Nicola, Johnson, Neil, HOLLOCK, STEPHEN
• Granted Patent: US 9,000,926 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/245 Reminder of hygiene compliance policies, e.g. of washing hands

Abstract

A method of monitoring hand washing by individuals comprises monitoring the movements of individuals in an area using one or more sensors, identifying the performance of an act by an individual that requires the hands of the individual to be washed and determining whether the hands of the individual are washed after the performance of the act, wherein the determining includes tracking the motion of that individual using the one or more sensors. Sensors comprising arrays of thermal detectors are preferred, but other types of sensor could be included.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring hand washing by individuals comprising:

monitoring the movements of individuals in an area using at least one sensor;

identifying the performance of an act by one of the individuals that requires the hands of the individual to be washed before or after the performance of the act; and

determining whether the hands of an individual are washed,

wherein the at least one sensor comprises a two dimensional array of thermal detectors, and

wherein the method further comprises processing signals from the detectors to perform one or more of a group of actions comprising;

tracking the motion of individuals,

providing an indication that an individual has performed an act that requires hand washing, and

providing an indication that an individual has performed a hand wash.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the actions of an individual that has performed an act requiring hand washing are tracked to determine whether the hands of the same individual are washed.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein one or more of the at least one sensor is sensitive only to movements taking place within its field of view.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of the one or more array of detector elements comprises no more than 10,000 detector elements.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the detector elements are pyroelectric detector elements.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 in which the at least one sensor uses image difference processing to determine the position of objects in the field of view of one of the sensors.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein if an individual spends more than a preset minimum amount of time at a hand washing station it is determined that the hands of the individual have been washed.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising processing signals from one or more dispensers of cleanser to identify that the hands of an individual are washed.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising incrementing a compliance counter for each determination that an individual having performed an act that requires the hands to be washed is preceded or followed by a hand washing operation according to requirements associated with the act.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising incrementing a non-compliance counter for each determination that an individual having performed an act is not followed by or preceded by a hand washing operation according to the requirements of the act.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising separately identifying multiple different acts that require the hands of an individual to be washed.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the area includes multiple hand washing stations wherein hand washing operations at the respective hand washing stations are separately determined.

13. A system for monitoring hand washing by individuals by monitoring the movements of individuals in an area, identifying the performance of an act by one of the individuals that requires the hands of the individual to be washed before or after the performance of the act, and determining whether the hands of an individual are washed, the system comprising:

at least one sensor comprising a two dimensional array of thermal detectors; and

one or more processors are configured to process signals from the detectors to perform one or more of a group of actions comprising;

tracking the motion of individuals,

providing an indication that an individual has performed an act that requires hand washing, and

providing an indication that an individual has performed a hand wash.

14. A system as claimed in claim 13 further comprising additional sensors associated with one or more cleanser dispensers.

15. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors in a system comprising at least one sensor having a two dimensional array of thermal detectors cause the system to:

monitor the movements of individuals in an area using the at least one sensor;

identify the performance of an act by one of the individuals that requires the hands of the individual to be washed before or after the performance of the act; and

determining whether the hands of an individual are washed,

wherein the instructions cause the one or more processors in the system to process signals from the detectors to perform or more of a group of actions comprising;

tracking the motion of individuals,

providing an indication that an individual has performed an act that requires hand washing, and

providing an indication that an individual has performed a hand wash.