Digital Technologies for Improving Hygiene in Health Facilities

150 years after Semmelweis advised fellow physicians to sanitize their hands to mitigate the effect of infections, the maintenance of hygiene is still a widespread problem in hospitals and the source of healthcare-associated infections. Now, technological solutions line up against microorganisms, bacteria, and fungi. Here are a few examples. 1 in 9 in-patients will die due to infection According to the US Center for Disease Control, studies show that on average, healthcare providers clean their hands less than half of the times they should. This significantly contributes to the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs or HCAIs), such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and C. diff (Clostridium difficile), affecting 1 in 25 hospital patients on any given day. Statistics revealed that on average, 1 in 9 will die due to the infection, and the number of HAI caused the death of approximately 99,000 people in 2002 only in the US. That’s almost the population of Seychelles. Still, that was only the extent of the problem in one country. The World Health Organization estimates that there are over 1.4 million cases of HAI at any given time. Of every 100 hospitalized patients, 7 in developed and 10 in developing countries will acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection. However, this is likely to be a gross underestimation, due to the lack of proper surveillance. These are insanely high numbers, especially considering that Dr. Ignác Semmelweis, “...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Healthcare Design Medical Professionals Policy Makers clean digital digital health future HAI healthcare-associated infection hygiene Medicine robot robotics sensors technology trackers wearable Source Type: blogs