Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1191144
17 Executive Briefing Based on a follow-up patient survey, the hospital learned that patients felt safer knowing that their healthcare providers' hand hygiene was being monitored. welcomed the opportunity to partner with GOJO to develop the system in a clinical environment. Over the better part of 2018, the Houston Methodist partnership was instrumental in calibrating and validating the accuracy and consistency of IMS, as well as adapting for work flow and environmental challenges. This was a significantly complex, multidisciplinary effort involving hospital administration, nursing leadership, clinical staff/nursing, infection prevention, internet technology (IT), and GOJO personnel to achieve a tailor-made and consistently reliable set of IMS hardware and software for testing. Partnering with frontline staff The optimized IMS was ultimately installed in two medical units at HM Sugar Land in December 2018. One of the benefits of participating in the development of the system was the opportunity for frontline staff to become involved in the process. The purpose of any AHHMS is to collect data about hand hygiene behaviors and provide feedback to staff so that they can use it to change and improve their practices. Understanding how the system works and having trust in the validity of the data generated is critical for staff buy-in and behavior change. Dr. Jackson, in partnership with nursing leadership, supported frontline ownership and encouraged them to ask questions and provide insight from their perspective. They also worked with the frontline staff to develop attainable, incremental and sustainable hand hygiene targets. Hand hygiene is a journey, not a destination Houston Methodist continues to strive for excellence. Their hand hygiene journey is far from over. To date, the units that have installed IMS have met their initial performance targets and continue to push the boundaries of what they thought was possible for hand hygiene. Dr. Jackson and the team are planning an expansion of IMS into the intensive care units, where workflows are faster-paced, HAI risk is more significant and the stakes are higher. AHHMS may offer a significant leap forward for patient safety. The 2019 Leapfrog Group Hospital Survey reflects this changing paradigm. For the first time, AHHMS may be included in the survey. With hospitals stagnant at 50 percent hand hygiene compliance or lower, or worse, reporting overly inflated compliance rates of 90 percent that don't alert leadership that there is really a problem, it's time for more hospitals to consider adopting AHHMS technology. Patients' lives depend on it. Advice for hospitals interested in AHHMS: From Dr. Jeffrey A. Jackson 1. Seek and maintain hospital/system-level leadership engagement early and often. Without it, you will not be successful. 2. Keep all stakeholders involved and regularly updated, including IT, infection prevention, as well as nursing leadership. 3. Include front-line staff. They need to understand, believe and own their data. Their buy-in is critical to acceptance of such a system. Bring them along for the entire journey. 4. Don't be afraid of the initial compliance rate with AHHMS. It will likely be much lower than your direct observation rate. Remember, you are using a completely different metric. 5. An important project like this will require resources, but it is worth the effort. We've been on this journey for years now and we are just getting started. n GOJO, the inventors of PURELL® Hand Sanitizer, is committed to improving the well-being of patients and healthcare workers. We are focused on bringing innovative hand hygiene products, smart dispensing solutions and compliance-building programs to market that help reduce the spread of infections and drive improve hand hygiene compliance.