A pilot project OhioHealth rolled out with IBM has resulted in a 90 percent compliance with hand-washing standards. That’s a 20 percent jump for one of OhioHealth’s Columbus hospitals.

The results may seem even more impressive when on considers that most other hospitals across the country are at 50 percent compliance.

The project employs new technology – what OhioHealth executives say is a first-of-a-kind network of wireless sensors and real-time big data analytics to give hospital administrators information that makes a difference in moving the needle on hand washing – a simple yet elusive way to reduce healthcare associated infections, commonly known as HAIs.

The data at OhioHealth has shown time and time again over recent months that staffers are on board with washing their hands. The data shows it, and visitors have observed it, says David Rutherford, RN, nurse manager at OhioHealth.

They mention it, saying something like, “People are always washing their hands here,” he says.

That may be so today, but when the pilot first launched, some staffers questioned the data. They can no longer do that, Rutherford says, because they have seen for themselves the data afford reliable measures.

So compliance has risen and continues to rise, he said, with the goal set at 100 percent.

Rutherford knows, and all of the staffers know it will make a difference.

Hand washing is considered one of the best ways to avoid deadly infections, such as MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium difficile, which affect 1 in 20 patients in U.S. healthcare facilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates nearly 2 million U.S. patients contract HAIs each year, and 90,000 die as a result.

HAIs are costly, too, estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system $4.5 billion in related medical expenses every year.

The newly installed IBM technology at one of OhioHealth’s Columbus hospitals provides the hospital staff with new information and observations that were not available before. Analyzing hand-washing data gives deep insights into the compliance levels of different departments, shifts, job roles, as well as variations based on other behavioral factors.

The real-time information is used to alert hospital personnel when proper hygiene habits are not being followed so that corrective action can be taken to reduce germ exposure to patients.

“OhioHealth is always looking for smarter ways to protect the health of our patients,” Michael Krouse, senior vice president and CIO, OhioHealth, said in press statement.

“Superbugs like MRSA can live for hours on surfaces, and we want to do everything we can to protect our patients from these kinds of serious infections,” he said. “Working with IBM, we will gain additional insights that will help us consistently achieve total compliance with hand-washing standards and fight back against these bugs.”

The IBM customized technology is installed at all hand-washing stations at the hospital. It measures the hand-washing compliance of hospital staff through radio frequency identification technology that is integrated with a mesh network of wireless sensors that collect data that is then analyzed by IBM’s system.
 
The system has improved the quality and accuracy of tracking data and delivers compliance information to hospital administrators 100 times faster than the hospital’s previous surveillance methods, according to officials.

“Hospitals everywhere are grappling with ways to prevent infections, and we believe OhioHealth’s forward-thinking approach will raise the bar for the entire industry,” said Sergio Bermudez, an IBM research scientist.

Bermudez told Healthcare IT News one of the differentiators between the IBM system and others aimed at curbing HAIs, is that it is cloud-based.

The joint effort of OhioHealth, IBM Research and IBM Global Business Services represents a milestone in how healthcare facilities can more efficiently track their progress in hand hygiene promotion, plan for improvements and set new goals, he said.

As Rutherford put it: “You can’t change what you don’t measure.”