Frost & Sullivan Recognizes DebMed with New Product Innovation Award in Hand Hygiene Solutions

Based on its recent analysis of the hand hygiene solutions market, Frost & Sullivan awarded DebMed®, creator of an electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system based on the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Five Moments for Hand Hygiene guidelines, the 2013 North American New Product Innovation Award.

According to Frost & Sullivan, in this era of healthcare reform and cost restraint, electronic solutions like the DebMed GMS® are allowing for more automated oversight of hand hygiene to ensure proper adherence by healthcare facilities to help reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), improve patient safety and decrease costs. This is the second time Frost & Sullivan has awarded DebMed with this distinction, also winning the 2011 Global Hand Hygiene Technology Innovation Award for its electronic hand hygiene monitoring system.

Healthcare-associated infections have become a major concern as hospitals seek to meet patient demands and battle escalating costs, all while hospital stays from infections have tripled in the last decade. While emphasis on hand hygiene awareness and protocols is growing, compliance and effectiveness traditionally have been difficult to monitor. DebMed has led the hand hygiene monitoring category to a higher clinical standard by being the only system to electronically monitor the WHO Five Moments for Hand Hygiene. When healthcare workers clean their hands only before and after patient care, a common practice in most hospitals, it only accounts for less than half of all hand hygiene opportunities, potentially putting patients at risk for infections.

"The DebMed electronic hand hygiene monitoring system is  giving health care providers what they need: real-time, accurate data and supporting training tools to ensure proper adherence to best practices," says Heather McLarney, vice president of marketing for DebMed. "We are proud to be recognized by Frost & Sullivan for the second time, for our latest offering that's helping facilities meet their infection control goals, create a culture of safety, and subsequently helping to save lives and costs."

Frost & Sullivan assessed the following criteria while comparing hand hygiene solutions: innovativeness; use of leading-edge technologies; value-added features and benefits; increased customer ROI; and customer acquisition/penetration potential.

The DebMed GMS system outshined other products in the market with the following key differentiators:
- Point-of-care Monitoring. It is the only electronic hand hygiene monitoring system that tracks hand hygiene compliance at the point-of-care by providing specialized away-from-wall monitored dispensers allowing access to hand sanitizer within arm's reach at the critical patient point-of-care.
- Methodology. The DebMed GMS system uses an exclusive technology that calculates how many times healthcare workers should have cleaned their hands based on published scientific research that, for the first time, benchmarked the number of hand hygiene opportunities based on hospital type (teaching vs. non-teaching), hospital size, and unit type (medical-surgical, critical care and emergency department units). The formula is then customized to each hospital unit by accounting for the ever-changing patient census as well as other proprietary, hospital-specific factors that feed into the calculation algorithm. This algorithm has been validated through research, confirming the accuracy of the system.
- Group Monitoring. The DebMed GMS system was developed based on insights from industry thought leaders that shows monitoring compliance at the group (unit) level is better perceived by staff than utilizing badges to track individuals, which can viewed as punitive. This philosophy of creating a positive culture of safety through team collaboration both drives individual accountability as well as results in better and sustained behavior change.

In addition, Frost & Sullivan noted that the DebMed GMS electronic monitoring system provides hospitals with a strong return on investment, due to the low cost of the system as well as proven outcomes clients using the system have experienced such as dramatically increased hand hygiene compliance rates and a reduction in infection rates.

Source: DebMed