DebMed to Arm Nursing Professionals with Infection-Reducing Hand Hygiene Solutions at AONE Meeting

DebMed®, creator of an award-winning electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system based on the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Five Moments for Hand Hygiene, will bring its expansive line-up of electronic monitoring hand hygiene solutions to the American Organization of Nursing Executives (AONE) annual meeting, March 12-15, 2014 in Orlando, Fla. DebMed will introduce its new point-of-care dispenser at booth 929. 

“The nursing community’s work on the front lines of patient care necessitates the most advanced options for hand hygiene compliance to keep nurses and their patients safe from healthcare-associated infections,” says Heather McLarney, vice president of marketing at DebMed. “Offering nurse leaders innovative solutions such as the option to use the soap or sanitizer of their choice, and providing specialized dispensers at the point-of-care has allowed us to best meet their needs.”
 
The company is also hosting an educational roundtable luncheon on the significance of hand hygiene practices at the Hilton Orlando in the Lake Hart room on March 12 from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., moderated by Nurse Leaders editor-in-chief, Roxane Spitzer, PHD, RN, MBA, FAAN. The panel discussion features the following participants:
 
- Martha Bouk, RN, BSN, CIC, infection preventionist, and Shawnna Cunning, RN, MSN, PhD, FNP-C, director of nursing at Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, Ill., about how implementing an electronic monitoring system has improved their hand hygiene compliance rates. The facility is the area’s only Magnet® Recognized hospital, a 2014 recipient of the HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence™, and has been named a 100 Top Hospital four years in a row. 
 
- Ellen Hargett, RN, director of quality and process improvement at Georgia’s DeKalb Regional Health System, who will discuss her experience as a survivor of a healthcare-associated infection (HAI), and the quality of care that is attainable through hand hygiene compliance.
 
“We are excited to have such a presence at AONE and be part of the discussion as nursing’s elite leaders meet to discuss quality, safety and other pressing issues,” says McLarney. “Adherence to proper hand hygiene remains the primary way to prevent infections, and we’re proud to share the successes of healthcare institutions across the country, and showcase our expanded solutions that are contributing to better outcomes and significant operational cost savings.”
 
The DebMed GMS, recipient of the 2013 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation,  provides access to hand sanitizer at the point-of-patient care, enabling facilities to more readily comply with the WHO Five Moments of Hand Hygiene: before touching the patient, before aseptic procedures, after potential exposure to bodily fluids, after touching the patient, and after touching the patients’ surroundings. The WHO guidelines are a higher clinical standard than the common practice of healthcare workers only cleaning hands before and after patient care, which can miss up to 50 percent of hand hygiene opportunities.
  
According to the WHO, the average hand hygiene compliance rate of healthcare workers is only 38.7 perecent. Direct observation forms of hand hygiene monitoring have proven unreliable, so automated monitoring systems are integral to success. DebMed’s solution captures 100 percent of hygiene events in real-time, providing a much more accurate and cost-effective alternative to manual direct observation methods. The technology imparts algorithms developed specifically for each hospital to automatically calculate compliance rates, and provides additional educational tools that support behavioral changes for improved compliance and care.
 
Source: DebMed