Gojo Industries, the inventors of Purell hand sanitizer, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, released the findings from a research study the company conducted at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, at the APUC 2013 Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., in June. The company used the Gojo Smartlink Activity Monitoring System to test how the electronic compliance activity monitory system would affect hand hygiene compliance rates.

The research was conducted from June 2012 to September 2012 and showed a 92 percent increase in hand hygiene compliance rates (from 16.5 percent at baseline to 31.7 percent) when an electronic monitoring system was used. During the post-study period, the rate decreased to 25.8 percent, which was still above the baseline.

The Gojo monitoring system was installed to monitor all patient room entries and exits and all hand hygiene uses from the Gojo touch-free soap or Purell hand sanitizer dispensers. Compliance was measured as a number of uses compared to a number of opportunities and included everyone in the hospital, not just health care workers. During the study, a comprehensive hand hygiene program for health care workers, patients and visitors was implemented. Plus, a hand hygiene improvement goal, leadership support and staff feedback opportunities were also established.

The Associated Press reported that SSM St. Mary’s Health Center in Richmond Heights, Mo., has been testing a system developed by Biovigil Inc., based in Ann Arbor, Mich. Like the Gojo system, the Biovigil system also tracks the successes and failures of each hand-cleaning opportunity. It uses a flashing light on a badge that turns green when hands are clean and red if they’re not. The two Biovigil units at St. Mary’s have had few failures. One unit had 97 percent hand hygiene success and the other had 99 percent success.

HyGreen Inc. developed two Hand Hygiene Reminder Systems, which are installed at seven hospitals. One uses a similar method as the Biovigil system, which detects alcohol on the hands, but also includes an active reminding system. Unclean hands create a warning buzz, and if the buzz sounds three times by a single worker, that worker is marked for noncompliance. The other method allows a worker to interact with a patient after the touch of a sanitizer dispenser. If the worker goes to the patient bedside without clean hands, the buzz warnings begin. According to the Associated Press article, “hospital infections have dropped 66 percent at units of Miami Children’s Hospital where the badge system has been implemented.”

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The bacteria, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), have increased fourfold over the past decade from 1.2 percent in 2001 to 4.2 percent in 2011. In the first half of 2012, 200 health care facilities (18 percent of long-term acute care hospitals and 4 percent of short-stay hospitals) treated patients with CRE. And facilities in 42 states have reported at least one case of CRE.

While infections are uncommon, the bacteria pose what CDC Director Thomas Frieden called a “triple threat.” The bacteria are resistant to antibiotics; they kill up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them; and they can transfer their antibiotic resistance to other bacteria within the family, possibly making other bacteria also untreatable. Almost all CRE infections occur in patients that receive care for serious conditions.

The germs spread from person to person, usually on the hands of health care professionals. The CDC said the spread of CRE can be controlled using standard infection control precautions, such as washing hands and having dedicated staff, rooms and equipment to care for patients with CRE. The CDC also requires health care facilities to inform each other when they are transferring a patient with CRE and suggests asking patients about recent medical care elsewhere, especially in other countries. Prescribing antibiotics wisely can also reduce the problem because the fewer antibiotics are used, the less likely that antibiotic resistance will occur. Check more info here: https://antibioticstore.online/

As of now, the bacteria have not spread to the wide community, but if they do, the situation would be much more difficult to control, according to the CDC.

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