New Handwashing Device Saves Lives and Money in Fight Against Hospital Associated Infections

Hand Hygiene Prompts (HHP) reminds anyone having contact with a hospital patient to wash their hands if they do not do so voluntarily. Our research shows that HHP increases hand hygiene compliance and decreases the number of healthcare associated infections in hospitals.

McLean, VA -- March 26, 2003 -- Good hand hygiene is a healthcare accepted standard and one of the most cost-effective ways to avoid the spread of hospital associated infections (infections patients acquire while in a hospital). Healthcare workers know this, yet continue to practice poor hand hygiene compliance. The result is a $2.4 billion and nearly 90,000 deaths per year problem in the United States.

A new device developed by Amron Corporation, called Hand Hygiene Prompts (HHP), automatically delivers a verbal message, prompting its listeners to wash as they were trained to do. Research shows that HHP decreases the hospital associated infection rate by increasing hand hygiene compliance. HHP compliments any and all existing tools, including the U.S. Center for Disease Control endorsed alcohol hand-gel.

Hand Hygiene Prompts is a patent-pending computer based device, installed on a hospital floor, which collects data from sensors which report room exit and entry, toilet use and handwashing. HHP combines sensor data to determine if a person should wash their hands, and plays a pre-recorded voice message if they do not. The messages are non-intrusive, non-threatening, non-coercive and non-stigmatizing. Amron's research shows that health care workers respond to these voice prompts by significantly increasing their hand hygiene compliance.

Amron tested Hand Hygiene Prompts in a joint study with Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, and Biloxi Specialty Hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi. At both sites, HHP increased handwashing compliance and decreased the hospital associated infection rate. The Johns Hopkins' results were presented at the 43rd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Diego on September 28, 2002, and have been submitted for publication review.

Amron Corporation was founded in 1979 and has been funded for several years in the area of infection control by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - National Institutes of Health. Specifically, the National Institute of Mental Health funded "Nosocomial Infection Control Through
Handwashing Prompts" under grant number R44 MH57562 which resulted in the HHP device.

Amron's research is extensive, their results are significant, and HHP product development has reached its final stage. Amron is pleased to offer Hand Hygiene Prompts, on a limited basis, to hospitals and other healthcare facilities and is willing to entertain the possibility of licensing. Amron is also excited to offer more information and a live demonstration of Hand Hygiene Prompts at The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, Inc. 13th Annual Scientific Meeting which will be held April 5-8, 2003, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

For photos or video of Hand Hygiene Prompts, contact kevin_strauss@amron.com.