Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Sep 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Observational StudyAutomated measures of hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers using ultrasound: validation and a randomized controlled trial.
The primary objective of this study was to validate a novel method of assessing hand hygiene compliance using ultrasound transmitters in patient zones and staff tagged with receivers. The secondary objective was to assess the impact of audio reminders and quantified individual feedback. ⋯ Our automated measure of hand hygiene compliance is valid when compared with the traditional gold standard of manual observations. As an interventional tool, ultrasound-based automated hand hygiene audits have significant benefit that can be built upon with enhancements and find increasing acceptance with time.