HyGeneNet Intelligent Hand Hygiene Recording and Reminding System to Prevent Hospital Acquired Infections

HyGeneNet: Intelligent Hand Hygiene Recording and Reminding System to Prevent Hospital Acquired Infections

Abstract

Hospital Acquired Infection – infections the patient did not have when they enter the hospital but acquired it during their stay. This is one of the major challenges in healthcare industry as it causes millions to die worldwide. Hand washing is the single most important procedure for preventing such infections. But Health Care Workers like doctors and nurses often forget to wash their hands before interacting with a patient. Contaminated healthcare workers hands continue to play a major role in transmitting infections, contributing to prolonged hospital stays, long-term disability and increased bacterial resistance to antibiotics, high costs for hospitals and patients, and ultimately to death. The project proposed here has the potential to remove this problem 100 percent.

The HyGeneNet – Intelligent Hand Hygiene Recording and Reminding System, is an innovative solution that actively reminds busy healthcare workers to wash their hands, and records all hand-washing events and patient -staff interactions in the hospital environment. The system uses low-power wireless chip technology to capture and transmit data on hand washing by healthcare workers, helping to improve hospital hygiene significantly.

HyGeneNet nodes uses the ARM Cortex- M3 microcontroller and the IEEE 802.15.4 wireless network protocol stack optimized for low-power, low-data rate and cost-sensitive applications. IEEE 802.15.4 network helps HyGeneNet to track all hand-washing events, as well as which patient bed each healthcare worker has visited, allowing hospitals to effectively monitor adherence to hand hygiene protocols.

After cleaning his or her hands with soap or gel, a healthcare worker places them under a HyGeneNet Sensor which sends a wireless “all clean” message to his or her HyGeneNet badge, which then blinks green. When the healthcare worker approaches a patient bed, the HyGeneNet monitor above the bed checks if the badge is transmitting an “all clean” signal. If the badge is not green, the badge vibrates, reminding the healthcare worker to wash. Reports on hand-washing compliance are available to hospital management in real time for analysis in desktop computers and also recorded in a Micro-SD card flash memory for mobile access.

The HyGeneNet System is designed to offer excellent battery life, as the wireless module, consumes only one-tenth the power required by WiFi. The system demonstrates how smart wireless technologies can help to tackle a major challenge in the healthcare industry – improving patient care, saving lives and saving costs. The system can be used not only in hospitals and clinics, but also in other environments such as schools and restaurants.

Hardware

Microcontroller: 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller Memory: 2GB Micro-SD flash memory card to store

HyGeneNet Sensor: used to sense alcoholic vapor emanating from hand cleaning gel like solutions

Software

FAT32 File System with EFSL (Embedded File System Library) for Micro-SD card file read/write

IEEE 802.15.4 Software Stack for node to node wireless communication Peripheral Drivers: Used for SPI, I2C peripheral handling.

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