Intelligent Observation, an automated hand hygiene compliance monitoring system designed to reduce healthcare-acquired infections, announces Parkridge Medical Center has implemented its hand hygiene solution within its new freestanding emergency department unit which opened on Oct. 5. 

Officials said, "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that on any given day, about one in 31 patients admitted to a hospital acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection. Healthcare-associated infections pose serious challenges for hospitals and can be reduced by up to 50 percent with proper hand hygiene. While significant progress has been made in preventing healthcare-associated infections, more needs to be done particularly in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic where handwashing protocols are critical."

The Intelligent Observation solution allows Parkridge Medical Center to move from visual observation, which only captures a fraction of hand hygiene events, to Intelligent Observation which captures every mandatory hand hygiene compliance event. "The result of implementing Intelligent Observation leads to a significant increase in safety for patients, healthcare workers and visitors," officials said.

“The urgency for hospitals to adopt innovative hand hygiene monitoring technology to mitigate healthcare-associated infections and the COVID-19 infection rate is at an all time high,” states Praneet Nirmul, VP of Sales at Intelligent Observation. “Most hospitals perform visual observation, which is a manual process using a clipboard and a pen, only capturing around 2 percent of the hand hygiene events that take place in a 24/7 hospital. Intelligent Observation captures 100 percent of hand hygiene events and is the only viable hand hygiene compliance monitoring solution that works."

Officials said, "Intelligent Observation uses near-field magnetic induction technology to safely and accurately record every single hand hygiene compliance event in a healthcare facility. NFMI technology is highly accurate, safe and secure, and ultra-efficient. Intelligent Observation’s solution provides visual points of accuracy through its near real-time data and personalized scorecards from healthcare workers with tips and training to help continually improve the hospital’s hand hygiene compliance."