Hand Hygiene Tracker

Functionality & Mechanism

Developed by University of Kentucky HealthCare, this IPAC (Infection Prevention & Control) auditing tool digitizes hand hygiene compliance tracking for healthcare enterprises. The interface facilitates the capture of observational data, allowing auditors to select a specific building and unit. Auditors log compliance metrics for healthcare workers, including hand hygiene events, correct personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and adherence to isolation protocols. The system is designed to replace manual, paper-based auditing processes and centralize vital compliance metrics.

Evidence & Research Context

• The application serves as an institutional tool for standardizing the manual auditing of infection prevention and control protocols.
• Associated research from the institution describes a technical method for automated, human-subject localization for hand hygiene activity monitoring.
• A general research article details a localization algorithm and a demonstration system that leverages wearable mobile tags to identify subjects near a sink.
• Preliminary tests of this separate, automated system concept indicated that a wearable tag could be identified within a 1.2m x 0.7m detectable area.

Intended Use & Scope

This tool is intended for Infection Prevention & Control (IPAC) professionals and quality improvement auditors within clinical enterprises. Its primary utility is standardizing the collection and aggregation of observational compliance data to inform institutional quality initiatives. The application is an auditing platform that relies on direct human observation; it does not provide automated compliance detection. Use requires an institutional account.