By Healthcare Facilities Today

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, SwipeSense knows if you've washed your hands. The Evanston, Ill., startup seeks to improve hand hygiene in hospitals and to prevent the 100,000 annual deaths attributed to hospital-acquired infections by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

SwipeSense links portable, trackable alcohol-based gel dispensers with a monitoring platform designed to analyze and encourage hand hygiene.

The device, which is about the size of a computer mouse, is designed to be worn by nurses and clinicians. The system electronically records every use of wall-mounted dispensers and proximity sensors placed in each patient's room. Who, how often, where and when of hand washing is collected and analyzed. 

Despite campaigns aimed at educating both clinicians and patients, studies show that hospital staff comply with hand-washing protocols only about 50% of the time.

While, according to the article, critics say garment-worn hand-sanitation devices not new, says Sandra Reiner, who manages infection control at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said the data was very encouraging. Reiner has worked with SwipeSense in conducting clinical trials.

Read the article.