Using real-time feedback may encourage hand-hygiene compliance, according to a study in American Journal of Infection Control.
A study monitored hand-hygiene compliance with electronic handwash counters for three months in private tertiary-care hospital units. The researchers compared the hand-hygiene episodes measured by disinfectant dispensing events with hand-hygiene episodes in a control unit, the article said.
The hand-hygiene compliance was higher with the real-time tracker, at 90.1 dispensing episodes per patient-day, compared to 73.1 dispensing episodes per patient-day in the control units.