Hospitals are hothouses for bacteria and viruses – sometimes deadly – that are often passed from patient to patient by the medical staff. An innovative Israeli device, already operating at Rambam, monitors the medical team to ensure proper hand-washing.

Hospital-acquired diseases and infections have reached plague-like proportions in medical centers around the world. In the USA alone, close to 100,000 deaths and expenditure of some $30 billion yearly result from preventable illnesses contracted in the hospital. As numerous infections are transmitted from medical personnel who don’t wash their hands properly, Rambam has implemented a monitoring system that will help ensure proper hygiene.

A nurse from Rambam’s Department of General Surgery wearing a “bracelet” monitor . Photo credit: Pioter Fliter.

“We are waging a war on cross-infection from medical staff to patient,” says Prof Yoram Kluger, director of General Surgery at Rambam. “In hospitals, especially public hospitals, the staff is exposed to many patients who have resistant bacteria. If the team passes on these bacteria to patients with weak immune systems, they can cause severe problems, even death.”

Contamination can be prevented by a measure as simple as proper hand washing. For this reason, the Department of General Surgery has initiated a regime that requires health care personnel to wash their hands before and after they see every patient. The program is accompanied by an innovative new system developed by the Israeli company Hygenix. In this system, health care workers wear “bracelets” that alert users of when they need to wash their hands. Implanted with sensors, the bracelets also detect hand washing behavior and transmit this data to a computer, which creates and displays a report on the wearer’s hygiene.

The system does not require special training or interfere with the workers’ daily routines. Nevertheless, it promises to minimize both health and financial risks.

Since the system was introduced in early January, the department has already reported a marked increase in the use of alcohol solution used by the staff to wash their hands. “I am confident that this measure will help us reduce infections by about 20-30%,” says Prof Kluger. “This can both save lives and reduce hospitalization expenses. Compared to what the hospital must invest in caring for such patients, the cost of this system is minimal.”

And Prof Kluger is in good company. Speaking recently at a town hall meeting in Grand Junction Colorado, US President Barack Obama said that in the USA, roughly 100,000 people die yearly from preventive diseases and illness in hospitals. “Simple measures, like hand-washing, can reduce these preventable deaths significantly,” said the president.

Writer: Roberta Neiger, ProText

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