DebMed to Showcase Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution Portfolio at HIMSS 2014

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 Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) annual meeting in Orlando, Feb. 23-27, 2014. DebMed will demonstrate its DebMed® GMS (Group Monitoring System), along with its recently introduced point-of-care dispensers and ability to monitor any brand of dispensers during the conference.

"There is a better way to monitor hand hygiene that results in real behavior change, while also providing the accurate, real-time data that healthcare facilities need to respond appropriately to know when and where to adjust in order to realize the patient safety and financial benefits," says Heather McLarney, vice president of marketing for DebMed. 

The DebMed GMS draws on an evidence-based, statistically valid algorithm which determines how many times healthcare workers should have cleaned their hands, based on patient census and degree of patient care, to derive a compliance rate.

DebMed has created the system to promote a high level of employee acceptance because it monitors compliance at the group level rather than requiring staff to wear badges that track their individual compliance. Group monitoring encourages team collaboration, and is recognized by many infection preventionists and industry thought leaders as being more effective in changing behavior than tracking individuals' actions, which can be seen by staff as punitive or an invasion of privacy. The system also includes an online toolkit of educational materials on proper hand hygiene protocols and customizable reminder tools to help healthcare facilities drive and reinforce behavior change.

The complete suite of products that will be present at HIMSS include:
- The DebMed GMS: automatically tracks staff hand hygiene activity and provides hospitals with timely and actionable hand hygiene compliance data to help organizations create and sustain quality and safety initiatives.
- Point-of-Care Dispenser: provides easy access to hand sanitizer within the immediate patient zone. The dispenser supplements the standard wall-mounted unit, providing point-of-care accessibility that will enable healthcare facilities to more readily comply with the WHO Five Moments of Hand Hygiene.
- Product-Agnostic Monitoring: The DebMed electronic hand hygiene monitoring system is now compatible with any soap or sanitizer dispenser. This change enables hospitals and other healthcare facilities that may have a preference for one hand hygiene product over another to convert to the most reliable method of electronic hand hygiene monitoring still using the product of their choice.

Source: DebMed