Accuracy of a radiofrequency identification (RFID) badge system to monitor hand hygiene behavior during routine clinical activities

Lisa L Pineles; Daniel J Morgan; Heather M Limper; Stephen G Weber; Kerri A Thom; Eli N Perencevich; Anthony D Harris; Emily Landon

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2013.07.014

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Accuracy of a radiofrequency identification (RFID) badge system to monitor hand hygiene behavior during routine clinical activities

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Accuracy of a radiofrequency identification (RFID) badge system to monitor hand hygiene behavior during routine clinical activities

Lisa L Pineles, Daniel J Morgan, Heather M Limper, Stephen G Weber, Kerri A Thom, Eli N Perencevich, Anthony D Harris and Emily Landon

AJIC: American Journal of Infection Control, Vol.42(2), pp.144-147

02/2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.07.014

PMCID: PMC4892498

PMID: 24355492

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Abstract

Hand hygiene (HH) is a critical part of infection prevention in health care settings. Hospitals around the world continuously struggle to improve health care personnel (HCP) HH compliance. The current gold standard for monitoring compliance is direct observation; however, this method is time-consuming and costly. One emerging area of interest involves automated systems for monitoring HH behavior such as radiofrequency identification (RFID) tracking systems. To assess the accuracy of a commercially available RFID system in detecting HCP HH behavior, we compared direct observation with data collected by the RFID system in a simulated validation setting and to a real-life clinical setting over 2 hospitals. A total of 1,554 HH events was observed. Accuracy for identifying HH events was high in the simulated validation setting (88.5%) but relatively low in the real-life clinical setting (52.4%). This difference was significant (P < .01). Accuracy for detecting HCP movement into and out of patient rooms was also high in the simulated setting but not in the real-life clinical setting (100% on entry and exit in simulated setting vs 54.3% entry and 49.5% exit in real-life clinical setting, P < .01). In this validation study of an RFID system, almost half of the HH events were missed. More research is necessary to further develop these systems and improve accuracy prior to widespread adoption.

Direct observation

Electronic monitoring

Compliance

Hand washing

Infection control

Details

Title: Subtitle: Accuracy of a radiofrequency identification (RFID) badge system to monitor hand hygiene behavior during routine clinical activities
Creators: Lisa L Pineles - Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Daniel J Morgan - Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Heather M Limper - Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Stephen G Weber - Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Kerri A Thom - Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Eli N Perencevich - Iowa City VA Health Care System and Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA
Anthony D Harris - Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Emily Landon - Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: AJIC: American Journal of Infection Control, Vol.42(2), pp.144-147
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2013.07.014
PMID: 24355492
PMCID: PMC4892498
NLM abbreviation: Am J Infect Control
ISSN: 0196-6553
eISSN: 1527-3296
Publisher: Elsevier Inc
Grant note: CCU319276 / Association of American Medical Colleges/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Proventix Systems, Inc
Language: English
Date published: 02/2014
Academic Unit: Epidemiology; Internal Medicine
Record Identifier: 9983779488902771

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