Xhale Innovations’ HyGreen Hand Hygiene System has been installed at the Chicago-based Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center (JBVAMC). This is nation’s first HyGreen Hand Hygiene System installation into a VA system.
The HyGreen Hand Hygiene System has been exclusively developed to prompt healthcare staff to clean their hands before attending to a patient. After cleaning the hand, the staff keeps their hands below the HyGreen hand wash sensor. The sensor transmits a wire-free message to a badge worn by the staff. A wireless monitor, which is placed above the bed of the patient, looks for the ‘all clean’ message and the badge will shudder if the message is not present, thereby prompting the staff to clean hands before touching the patient. All interactions are saved in a database, enabling Infection Control through hand hygiene.
The HyGreen system was developed to mimic instructions from major industry specialists such as the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Joint Commission. An investigation of the effectiveness of the system will be presented at SHEA 2011, scheduled to be held in Dallas in April.
XI CEO Craig T. Davenport stated that the HyGreen Hand Hygiene System will enable the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center to safeguard their patients from hospital-related contagions and minimize the overall costs. He added that such contagions can prolong hospital stays for another eight days, and reduced infections can result in reduced hospice expenditures.