Hand hygiene complicance confirmation system

• US 9,478,118 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2012
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Biovigil Hygiene Technologies LLC (BioVigil Healthcare Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xhale, Inc.
• Inventors: Keown, Sam, Klusty, Mark, Laster, Eric, Melker, Richard, Wohltjen, Henry, Youngblood, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US14/234,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20150048940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,530 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.12, 340/573.1, 340/286.09, 340/825.54, 340/541, 340/567, 340/572.1, 340/825.06, 340/505, 340/603, 340/540
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/245 Reminder of hygiene compliance policies, e.g. of washing hands
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0076 Body hygiene; Dressing; Knot tying
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/40 for data related to laboratory analysis, e.g. patient specimen analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

Provided according to embodiments of the present invention are Hand Hygiene Compliance Confirmation Systems (HHCCS) that include a Hand Hygiene Composition Dispenser (HHCD); a Hand Hygiene Composition Dispenser Monitor (HHCDM) and a Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitor (HHCM). In some embodiments, the HHCDM detects when said HHCD dispenses Hand Hygiene Composition (HHC) and signals said HHCM to start a clock so that if the hands of a person are presented to said HHCM within a pre-defined period of time from the time that said HHCDM sends said signal to said HHCM, said HHCM sends a signal to at least one display to indicate hand hygiene compliance, referred to as a Green Light Condition or GLC. Related apparatus and methods are also provided.

Claims

1. A Hand Hygiene Compliance Confirmation System (HHCCS) comprising:

a. a Hand Hygiene Composition Dispenser (HHCD);

b. a Hand Hygiene Composition Dispenser Monitor (HHCDM); and

c. a Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitor (HHCM);

wherein said HHCDM detects when said HHCD dispenses Hand Hygiene Composition (HHC) and signals said HHCM to start a clock so that if at least one hand of a person is presented to said HHCM within a pre-defined period of time from the time that said HHCDM sends said signal to said HHCM, said HHCM sends a signal to at least one display to indicate hand hygiene compliance;

wherein said HHCCS initiates a routine selected from at least one of the following;

initiating a sensor, and optionally a fan for drawing in and directing air over the sensor, of a detectable marker on or emanating from the skin of the at least one hand presented to the HHCM, if the hand hygiene composition (HHC) contains such a marker;

initiating a configurable timer from the time the HHCM receives the signal from the HHCDM that HHC has been dispensed; and

generating a confirmation signal if the at least one hand of the person has been detected by a confirmation signal generator within the time configured into the configurable timer.

2. The HHCCS according to claim 1 wherein said system further comprises a Personnel Identification Badge Monitor (PIBM) which confirms the identity of a person carrying a Personnel Identification Badge (PIB) upon reaching a pre-defined proximity to said HHCD.

3. The HHCCS according to claim 1 wherein

a confirmation signal is generated and the confirmation signal generator is selected from the group consisting of a motion detector and an infrared detector.

4. The HHCCS according to claim 1 which includes a time of flight (TOF) system for determining the location of any person in a facility in which said HHCCS is deployed.

5. The HHCCS according to claim 4 in which the hand hygiene compliance of any person in a facility in which said HHCCS is deployed is stored in a database.

6. The HHCCS according to claim 1 which is configured to provide a plurality of levels of verification of hand hygiene compliance.

7. The HHCCS according to claim 6 wherein said plurality of levels of verification of hand hygiene compliance comprise:

i. a second level (Level II) which comprises verification of HHCD actuation and detection of the at least one hand presented for such level of verification within a configured time frame from the time of detection of actuation of the HHCD;

ii. a third level (Level III) which comprises verification of HHCD actuation and detection of the at least one hand presented for such level of verification within a configured time frame from the time of detection of actuation of the HHCD, and detection of a marker included in the HHC on or emanating from the at least one hand presented for verification in the second level; and

iii. a fourth level (Level IV) which comprises verification of HHCD actuation and detection of a marker included in the HHC on or emanating from the at least one hand.

8. The HHCCS according to claim 7 which, in addition to any of said plurality of compliance levels, also is configured to provide compliance at a first level, (Level I), requiring only verification of HHCD actuation.

9. The HHCCS according to claim 8 wherein Level I events are credited as representing impossible hand hygiene compliance events, Level II events are credited as representing improbable hand hygiene compliance events, and Level III events are credited as representing undocumented hand hygiene compliance events, provided there are no missing elements in the chain of the event for a given Level event to be confirmed.

10. The HHCCS according to claim 1, wherein

for HHCMs located adjacent to soap dispensers, only Level I or Level II events are detected, and Level III events are only detected at HHCMs positioned adjacent HHCDs which dispense HHCs containing a marker which can be definitively detected on or emanating from the at least one hand presented to the HHCM.

11. The HHCCS according to claim 1 wherein when said HHCDM detects that said HHCD dispenses Hand Hygiene Composition (HHC), said HHCCS confirms hygiene compliance of a person via communication between a PIBM and a PIB carried by the person when they are the only person close enough to activate said HHCD.

12. The HHCCS according to claim 11 wherein said PIBM, on detecting said person and communicating with said person'"'"'s PIB, sends a signal, via a wired or wireless communication means, both the identity of the person and their hand hygiene compliance for any hand hygiene procedure conducted at that HHCM, said signal being received and stored as data in at least one central database.

13. The HHCCS according to claim 12 which, over time, analyzes said stored data for a facility in which said system is implemented to determine at least one of:

a. remedial action that could be taken to ensure compliance if any personnel are identified to be consistently or sporadically non-compliant;

b. the GLC status of personnel in the facility; and

c. correlations between where and when any infections are spread inside the facility and individuals who have or have not complied with Hand Hygiene Compliance Procedures (HHCPs) of the facility.

14. The HHCCS according to claim 1 wherein said sensor, on receiving said signal from said HHCDM, takes a reading of ambient air prior to hand presentation to establish a baseline sensor signal reading.

15. A method for confirming hand hygiene compliance in a facility which requires hand hygiene compliance comprising:

deploying in said facility at least one HHCD containing HHC for dispensing onto the hands of personnel in said facility;

operatively engaging at least one HHCDM which detects dispensing of HHC from said HHCD and which generates a signal on detecting such dispensing;

operatively deploying least one HHCM so as to receive said signal from said HHCDM and, in response to receipt of the signal, initiates a count-down timer for detection of at least one of the following;

a detectable marker or a hand presentation

wherein the method further comprises at least one of the following routines;

initiating a sensor, and optionally a fan for drawing in and directing air over the sensor, of a detectable marker on or emanating from the skin of the at least one hand presented to the HHCM, if the hand hygiene composition (HHC) contains such a marker;

initiating a configurable timer from the time the HHCM receives the signal from the HHCDM that HHC has been dispensed; and

generating a confirmation signal if the at least one hand of the person has been detected by a confirmation signal generator within the time configured into the configurable timer.