University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago Installs the HyGreen Hand Hygiene System

The University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago announces that it has installed Xhale Innovations' (XI) HyGreen® Hand Hygiene System. This is XI's second HyGreen installation in the Chicago area.

The HyGreen Hand Hygiene System is designed to remind healthcare workers to wash their hands while incentivizing good hand hygiene practices. After cleaning their hands with soap or gel, healthcare workers place them under the HyGreen handwash sensor that sends a wireless "all clean" message to a badge worn by the healthcare worker. A wireless monitor above the patient bed searches for the message as the healthcare worker approaches. If it's absent, the badge vibrates, reminding the healthcare worker to wash. All interactions are recorded in a real-time database

James Cook, MD, chief of infectious diseases at UIC, says, "The infection control program at the University of Illinois Hospital (UIH) sought an efficient method to remind healthcare workers about hand hygiene and to monitor this most important aspect of hospital infection control. After a review of all available new technologies, the HyGreen system was chosen because of its innovative, yet unobtrusive, provision of real-time feedback and database monitoring. The teamwork between Xhale Innovations and the multidisciplinary UIC staff provided a highly effective process of acquisition and implementation that resulted in successful installation and startup of this program. We are enthusiastic about the use of the HyGreen system to improve hand hygiene adherence and the quality of related data analysis, feedback and reporting."

The HyGreen system was designed to reflect the recommended hand hygiene guidelines from leading industry experts, including the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Joint Commission. A study on the efficacy of the system will be presented at the Annual Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Conference to be held in Dallas in April of this year.

"We're pleased and proud to have been selected to be the provider of a technology solution for UIH in their hand hygiene improvement efforts. Improving patient safety is crucial to hospitals, healthcare workers and of course the patient and their loved ones who visit them while in the hospital. Not only will HyGreen help the University of Illinois Hospital protect patients from hospital-associated infections, it will also help the hospital bottom line." says XI CEO Craig T. Davenport. "Recent changes in Medicare regulations have cut payments to hospitals for costs associated with certain HAIs. Using HyGreen, hospitals have a tool to help combat infections, enhance patient safety and save money."