For Clean Hands – Safe Hands, APIC 2017 brought new energy and inspiration to our team. We met so many Infection Control professionals that share our passion for reducing HAIs. This year, more than previously, everyone agreed that direct observation doesn’t work. We’ve written about this before, but it’s not just us – multiple studies have shown that direct observation can overstate compliance rates by up to 300%.[1]
With direct observation falling from favor, APIC attendees were more interested than ever in electronic hand hygiene solutions. A new Hand Hygiene Compliance Demonstration area in the Exhibit Hall this year featured speakers from a variety of industry providers, including us. Most of these presentations ended up being standing room only for audience members.
We had some exciting announcements of our own to make – we’re proud to have formed strategic relationships with both GP PRO and DebMed. Both partnerships will allow us to bring added and unique value to our hospital customers.
At the Clean Hands – Safe Hands booth, Infection Control professionals loved our Natural Language Voice Reminder™, which allows our system to go beyond monitoring and leads to continual improvement. Our reminder has continually been the major driver for improving hand hygiene compliance rates across all of our customers and has more than doubled compliance rates in every case.
There was also a lot of excitement about our Room Modes, which allow our system to easily adapt to the changes in clinical workflow that vary widely based on different patient needs, such as C. diff, MRSA, and MRDOs. Perhaps the best received addition to the CHSH platform was our clinical success pathway, which allows our hospitals to have an evidence-based method to improve the performance of everyone within their organization.
This year, there were more hospitals that were ready to invest in hand hygiene solutions in order to improve patient care and reduce HAIs. It’s not just early adopters anymore. The movement is starting, and we’re thrilled to be leading the transformation.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=srigley+quantification
