Hand cleanliness

• US 20070008149A1
• Filed: 02/14/2006
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Biovigil Hygiene Technologies LLC (BioVigil Healthcare Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Biovigil LLC
• Inventors: Bolling, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,616,122 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.100
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/22 in combination with an identity check of the pass holder
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/26 using a biometric sensor integrated in the pass
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/245 Reminder of hygiene compliance policies, e.g. of washing hands
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 23/00 Alarms responsive to unspecified undesired or abnormal conditions
• 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

Among other things, an entry monitor has circuitry to detect when a person enters a monitored space and an indicator perceptible to other people in the space to indicate a cleanliness state of the hands of the person who has entered the space.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising

an electronic sensor configured to be carried by a person and to be used by the person to detect a cleanliness state of the person'"'"'s hands, and

a holder for the electronic sensor, the holder having a structure to temporarily receive an identification badge of the person.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the badge and the holder contain respective communication elements to permit information about a cleanliness test performed by the person using the electronic sensor to be communicated to the badge.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the badge includes a unique identifier of the person that can be read electronically.

4. An apparatus comprising

an electronic sensor configured to be carried by a person or mounted in a stationary position accessible to a person'"'"'s hands, and configured to be used by the person to detect a cleanliness state of the person'"'"'s hands, and

circuitry to detect and provide an alert when the electronic sensor is nearing the end of its useful life.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 in which

the circuitry includes a counter of a number of times the sensor is used.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 in which the sensor comprises an ethanol sensor.

7. An apparatus comprising

an electronic sensor configured to be carried by a person or mounted in a stationary position accessible to a person'"'"'s hands, and configured to be used by the person to detect a cleanliness state of the person'"'"'s hands, the sensor comprising a chemical sensor that is sensitive to a detecting a level or a cleaning material other than ethanol that indicates cleanliness.

8. An apparatus comprising

an electronic sensor configured to be carried by a person or mounted in a stationary position accessible to a person'"'"'s hands, and configured to be used by the person to detect a cleanliness state of the person'"'"'s hands, the sensor comprising a ceramic sensor for ethanol.

9. An apparatus comprising

an electronic sensor configured to be carried by a person or mounted in a stationary position accessible to a person'"'"'s hands, and configured to be used by the person to detect a cleanliness state of the person'"'"'s hands, and

circuitry to count a number of times a person has run a cleanliness test using the sensor.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 also including

a communication circuit to communicate the count wirelessly to a reader for reporting to a third party.

11. An apparatus comprising

an electronic sensor configured to be carried by a person or mounted in a stationary position accessible to a person'"'"'s hands, and configured to be used by the person to detect a cleanliness state of the person'"'"'s based on whether the user'"'"'s hands bear a disinfecting material at a level that indicates cleanliness, and

a storage device coupled to the sensor to store information about the frequency, timing and/or results of cleanliness measurement performed by the user using the electronic sensor.

12. An apparatus comprising

a monitor having detection circuitry to detect a presence of two or more people in a monitored space and reporting circuitry to report a cleanliness state of hands of the people in the monitored space, based on information provided by one or more sensors used to sense a disinfecting agent on the hands of the people.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the detection circuitry detects the presence of two or more people by wireless communication with a device held on or by the person.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 in which the wireless communication comprises RFID communication.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the monitored space comprises a room in a health care facility.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the sensors are worn by one or more of the people.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the sensors are associated with the monitor.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the sensors sense ethanol.

19. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the cleanliness state is reported with respect to each of the people separately.

20. The apparatus of claim 12 in which the cleanliness state is reported to everyone in the space.

21. An apparatus comprising

an entry monitor having circuitry to detect when a person enters a monitored space and an indicator perceptible to other people in the space to indicate a cleanliness state of the hands of the person who has entered the space.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the circuitry to detect when a person enters a monitored space includes a wireless communication element.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the indicator comprises a light.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the indicator can indicate a disinfected state and a non-disinfected state.

25. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the indicator is set to indicate a non-disinfected state of the person'"'"'s hands when the person enters the space, whether or not the person'"'"'s hands are then in a disinfected state.

26. The apparatus of claim 25 in which the indicator is set to switch to indicate a disinfected state only after the person successfully establishes the disinfected state using a sensor that senses a presence of a disinfectant.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 in which the indicator is set to switch to indicate a disinfected state only after all of the people who have entered the room have successfully established the disinfected state using one or more sensors that sense a presence of a disinfectant.

28. The apparatus of claim 21 in which the circuitry obtains, from a device worn by the person, information identifying the person uniquely.

29. An apparatus comprising

badges to be worn by people who enter a space, the badges containing indicia that uniquely identify the respective people who wear the badges,

one or more sensors to sense a presence of a disinfectant material on hands of each of the people, and

a monitor to detect the presence of one or more of the people in a space and to indicate a cleanliness state of the people in the space.

30. An apparatus comprising

a system to monitor cleanliness states of hands of people who are moving from space to space in a facility, the system comprising

circuitry to identify each of the people uniquely in more than one of the spaces of the facility,

circuitry to test the cleanliness state of the hands of one or more of the people in one or more of the spaces, and to associate the tests with the identities of the people, and

a communication network to exchange information about the tested cleanliness of the people in the spaces of the facility from time to time and to provide related reports to a third party.

31. A method comprising

storing on a device that is worn or carried by a person and contains an identifier uniquely associated with the person, a record of tests performed by the person on a sensor to determine a cleanliness state of the hands of the person at a succession of test times.