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Hand Hygiene Audit Becomes Hand Held

Tuesday April 01, 2014

In April 2014, with the support of MSD pharmaceutical company, the Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPCT) in Beaumont Hospital began working with Maithu Limited to develop a hand hygiene (HH) App. The aim of the App was to change the process of auditing so that it was: paperless, more interactive and appealing for staff in the clinical area, and allow immediate automated reports for timely feedback. In addition, the opportunity for the App to provide quick access to educational material to promote HH among staff was explored. 


Hygiene1


 The tools used to audit HH compliance had not been reviewed since 2008, when it became mandatory to submit regular HH audits to the Health Service Executive (HSE). The new App allows the data, which was previously collected on the HSE national audit data collection form, to be inputted directly using tablet. The time saved in terms of data entry alone is approximated at 84 administration hours per annum and reduces the risk of error in data transcription. Time is also saved by the generation of automated reports which are sent directly to the auditors email by a quick tap on the App! The new initiative has also given the IPCT an opportunity to focus on refreshing previously trained auditors, generating renewed interest in the audit process.

The IPCT envisage that the HH App becomes the primary tool for auditing HH in Beaumont Hospital and may be of benefit to other healthcare facilities. The focus is currently to fine tune the HH App and the IPCT are assisting Maithu Limited to expand the tool to incorporate other aspects of patient care, for example, adherence to device related care bundle. Hand hygiene remains a core patient safety issue for Beaumont Hospital and it is hoped that making HH audit more user friendly will be a great addition to the overall HH programme.


In April 2014, with the support of MSD pharmaceutical company, the Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPCT) in Beaumont Hospital began working with Maithu Limited to develop a hand hygiene (HH) App. The aim of the App was to change the process of auditing so that it was: paperless, more interactive and appealing for staff in the clinical area, and allow immediate automated reports for timely feedback. In addition, the opportunity for the App to provide quick access to educational material to promote HH among staff was explored.  


The tools used to audit HH compliance had not been reviewed since 2008, when it became mandatory to submit regular HH audits to the Health Service Executive (HSE). The new App allows the data, which was previously collected on the HSE national audit data collection form, to be inputted directly using tablet. The time saved in terms of data entry alone is approximated at 84 administration hours per annum and reduces the risk of error in data transcription. Time is also saved by the generation of automated reports which are sent directly to the auditors email by a quick tap on the App! The new initiative has also given the IPCT an opportunity to focus on refreshing previously trained auditors, generating renewed interest in the audit process.


The IPCT envisage that the HH App becomes the primary tool for auditing HH in Beaumont Hospital and may be of benefit to other healthcare facilities. The focus is currently to fine tune the HH App and the IPCT are assisting Maithu Limited to expand the tool to incorporate other aspects of patient care, for example, adherence to device related care bundle. Hand hygiene remains a core patient safety issue for Beaumont Hospital and it is hoped that making HH audit more user friendly will be a great addition to the overall HH programme.