Ekahau Develops Solution for Monitoring Hand Hygiene
Poster: SySAdmin
Posted on February 17, 2011 at 9:07:02 AM
Ekahau Develops Solution for Monitoring Hand Hygiene
Ekahau RTLS and GOJO Dispensers Combine to Ensure Hospital Employees Comply with Handwashing Requirements to Minimize Hospital Acquired Infections and Other Transmittable Diseases
RESTON, Virginia, February 17, 2011/PRNewswire/ -- Ekahau Inc., the worldwide leader in high performance
Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), today announced that it is,
introducing a Wi-Fi Hand Hygiene Monitoring solution (
http://www.ekahau.com/solutions/healthcare/infection-control ) that
automatically monitors hand hygiene of employees in the healthcare facilities
to prevent the spread of hospital acquired infections and other transmittable
diseases.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090513/347052 )
Ekahau RTLS offers the unique ability to track the location
and staff interactions with patients and to measure hand hygiene activity
down to the individual caregiver. Because the Ekahau RTLS runs over a
hospital's existing Wi-Fi network, the hand hygiene solution is cost
effective and easy to deploy. Utilizing the GOJO SmartLink(TM) Series
Dispensers with the Ekahau RTLS, customers will have access to a complete
skin care portfolio - including PURELL(R) hand sanitizer, PROVON(R) hand
soaps and PURELL(R) Surgical Scrub - enabling them to monitor hand hygiene
across the entire facility. Once in place, the same Ekahau RTLS system can be
used for a variety of other applications, such as staff communications,
safety, workflow, patient tracking, asset tracking and environmental
monitoring.
The hand hygiene solution combines Ekahau location-enabled
staff badges and Ekahau beacons that are embedded into GOJO's SmartLink(TM)
Series Dispensers located throughout a hospital. The staff badges - which
also are commonly used for staff messaging, workflow and safety applications
- enable the RTLS system to automatically monitor staff-patient interactions,
as well as when the staff member washes his or her hands before and after
interacting with a patient in order to calculate compliance based on hospital
policy. By leveraging the two-way communications capabilities of the Ekahau
RTLS system, (
http://www.ekahau.com/products/real-time-location-system/overview ) staff
members can receive reminders and status information on the text display of
their badges to help improve hand hygiene compliance. To ensure full
compliance, the Ekahau transmitters that are integrated into the dispensers
will only be activated when hands are sanitized, eliminating any false
information from being collected.
"Hand hygiene is a significant concern, particularly in the
healthcare market where, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, hospital acquired infections add more than $30 billion to annual
healthcare costs and result in almost 100,000 deaths," said Tuomo Rutanen,
senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Business Development at
Ekahau. "We believe that Ekahau's real-time location tracking technology -
which is already in use at more than 300 hospitals worldwide and works over
the customer's existing Wi-Fi networks - has been integrated with GOJO hand
sanitizing units to provide hospitals a way to ensure staff is compliant with
hand washing procedures."
"Today, most healthcare institutions still go through a manual
observation method to collect and report hand hygiene compliance rates. This
manual observation method typically requires significant cost and effort, but
rarely yields timely and accurate information on hand hygiene compliance,"
said Dave Mackay, Healthcare vice president at GOJO Industries. "When you
consider the potential for Ekahau's real-time location tracking technology,
enabled by GOJO's touch-free dispensing systems, to deliver real-time hand
hygiene monitoring at an individual care level, it's exciting to think about
the difference this could make for infection control."
The solution relies on Ekahau's experience in deploying
healthcare technology enterprisewide and its accurate location tracking
capabilities, as well as GOJO's extensive expertise in infection control in
the healthcare environment. The solution is currently undergoing field
testing and will be available in the second quarter of 2011.
More information about how this solution works is online at
http://www.ekahau.com/solutions/healthcare/infection-control
Ekahau will be demonstrating a prototype of this solution at Booth 3701
during HIMSS11 Annual Conference & Exhibition, February 20-24, 2011, at the
Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.
About Ekahau Inc.
Ekahau Inc. is the industry leader in providing Wi-Fi-based
RTLS solutions. Ekahau's customers, including several Fortune 500 companies
worldwide, are realizing the benefits of Wi-Fi based location services and
innovative Wi-Fi network planning and optimization tools. Ekahau's solutions
are being used in more than 300 hospitals around the world, as well as by
manufacturing, retail and industrial companies, government agencies and the
military. Ekahau partners include wireless software developers, leading
system integrators and international OEM partners, who develop and market
wireless enterprise applications. Ekahau is a U.S.-based corporation, with
headquarters in Reston, Va., and other offices in Saratoga, Calif.; Helsinki,
Finland; Tokyo; and Hong Kong. For more information about Ekahau, please
visit http://www.ekahau.com.
(c) Copyright 2011, Ekahau, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About GOJO Industries
GOJO invented PURELL Instant Hand Sanitizer and markets a full
range of PURELL products to consumers and professionals worldwide. In
addition, GOJO markets a full line of handwashing and skin care products to
professionals under the GOJO(R) and PROVON(R) brand names. GOJO has a 64-year
history of leadership in improving well-being through hand hygiene and
healthy skin. GOJO products and programs kill germs on hands and solve skin
care-related problems in a variety of markets, including healthcare,
foodservice, food processing, manufacturing, automotive, education,
government and military. GOJO is a privately-held corporation headquartered
in Akron, Ohio, with offices in the United Kingdom, France, Australasia,
Japan and Brazil. For more information, visit http://www.gojo.com.
PURELL(R) is a trademark of GOJO Industries, Inc. and is used with
permission.
Source: Ekahau Inc.
Ekahau Media Contacts: Juliet Travis, Rocket Science PR, for Ekahau, +1-415-464-8110 x 215, juliet(at)rocketscience.com; Cindi Loveall, Marketing Director, Ekahau, +1-703-860-2850 x 1008, cindi.loveall(at)ekahau.com; GOJO Media Contact: Joe Drenik, +1-330-255-6357, drenikj(at)gojo.com
Ekahau RTLS and GOJO Dispensers Combine to Ensure Hospital Employees Comply with Handwashing Requirements to Minimize Hospital Acquired Infections and Other Transmittable Diseases
RESTON, Virginia, February 17, 2011/PRNewswire/ -- Ekahau Inc., the worldwide leader in high performance
Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), today announced that it is,
introducing a Wi-Fi Hand Hygiene Monitoring solution (
http://www.ekahau.com/solutions/healthcare/infection-control ) that
automatically monitors hand hygiene of employees in the healthcare facilities
to prevent the spread of hospital acquired infections and other transmittable
diseases.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090513/347052 )
Ekahau RTLS offers the unique ability to track the location
and staff interactions with patients and to measure hand hygiene activity
down to the individual caregiver. Because the Ekahau RTLS runs over a
hospital's existing Wi-Fi network, the hand hygiene solution is cost
effective and easy to deploy. Utilizing the GOJO SmartLink(TM) Series
Dispensers with the Ekahau RTLS, customers will have access to a complete
skin care portfolio - including PURELL(R) hand sanitizer, PROVON(R) hand
soaps and PURELL(R) Surgical Scrub - enabling them to monitor hand hygiene
across the entire facility. Once in place, the same Ekahau RTLS system can be
used for a variety of other applications, such as staff communications,
safety, workflow, patient tracking, asset tracking and environmental
monitoring.
The hand hygiene solution combines Ekahau location-enabled
staff badges and Ekahau beacons that are embedded into GOJO's SmartLink(TM)
Series Dispensers located throughout a hospital. The staff badges - which
also are commonly used for staff messaging, workflow and safety applications
- enable the RTLS system to automatically monitor staff-patient interactions,
as well as when the staff member washes his or her hands before and after
interacting with a patient in order to calculate compliance based on hospital
policy. By leveraging the two-way communications capabilities of the Ekahau
RTLS system, (
http://www.ekahau.com/products/real-time-location-system/overview ) staff
members can receive reminders and status information on the text display of
their badges to help improve hand hygiene compliance. To ensure full
compliance, the Ekahau transmitters that are integrated into the dispensers
will only be activated when hands are sanitized, eliminating any false
information from being collected.
"Hand hygiene is a significant concern, particularly in the
healthcare market where, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, hospital acquired infections add more than $30 billion to annual
healthcare costs and result in almost 100,000 deaths," said Tuomo Rutanen,
senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Business Development at
Ekahau. "We believe that Ekahau's real-time location tracking technology -
which is already in use at more than 300 hospitals worldwide and works over
the customer's existing Wi-Fi networks - has been integrated with GOJO hand
sanitizing units to provide hospitals a way to ensure staff is compliant with
hand washing procedures."
"Today, most healthcare institutions still go through a manual
observation method to collect and report hand hygiene compliance rates. This
manual observation method typically requires significant cost and effort, but
rarely yields timely and accurate information on hand hygiene compliance,"
said Dave Mackay, Healthcare vice president at GOJO Industries. "When you
consider the potential for Ekahau's real-time location tracking technology,
enabled by GOJO's touch-free dispensing systems, to deliver real-time hand
hygiene monitoring at an individual care level, it's exciting to think about
the difference this could make for infection control."
The solution relies on Ekahau's experience in deploying
healthcare technology enterprisewide and its accurate location tracking
capabilities, as well as GOJO's extensive expertise in infection control in
the healthcare environment. The solution is currently undergoing field
testing and will be available in the second quarter of 2011.
More information about how this solution works is online at
http://www.ekahau.com/solutions/healthcare/infection-control
Ekahau will be demonstrating a prototype of this solution at Booth 3701
during HIMSS11 Annual Conference & Exhibition, February 20-24, 2011, at the
Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.
About Ekahau Inc.
Ekahau Inc. is the industry leader in providing Wi-Fi-based
RTLS solutions. Ekahau's customers, including several Fortune 500 companies
worldwide, are realizing the benefits of Wi-Fi based location services and
innovative Wi-Fi network planning and optimization tools. Ekahau's solutions
are being used in more than 300 hospitals around the world, as well as by
manufacturing, retail and industrial companies, government agencies and the
military. Ekahau partners include wireless software developers, leading
system integrators and international OEM partners, who develop and market
wireless enterprise applications. Ekahau is a U.S.-based corporation, with
headquarters in Reston, Va., and other offices in Saratoga, Calif.; Helsinki,
Finland; Tokyo; and Hong Kong. For more information about Ekahau, please
visit http://www.ekahau.com.
(c) Copyright 2011, Ekahau, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About GOJO Industries
GOJO invented PURELL Instant Hand Sanitizer and markets a full
range of PURELL products to consumers and professionals worldwide. In
addition, GOJO markets a full line of handwashing and skin care products to
professionals under the GOJO(R) and PROVON(R) brand names. GOJO has a 64-year
history of leadership in improving well-being through hand hygiene and
healthy skin. GOJO products and programs kill germs on hands and solve skin
care-related problems in a variety of markets, including healthcare,
foodservice, food processing, manufacturing, automotive, education,
government and military. GOJO is a privately-held corporation headquartered
in Akron, Ohio, with offices in the United Kingdom, France, Australasia,
Japan and Brazil. For more information, visit http://www.gojo.com.
PURELL(R) is a trademark of GOJO Industries, Inc. and is used with
permission.
Source: Ekahau Inc.
Ekahau Media Contacts: Juliet Travis, Rocket Science PR, for Ekahau, +1-415-464-8110 x 215, juliet(at)rocketscience.com; Cindi Loveall, Marketing Director, Ekahau, +1-703-860-2850 x 1008, cindi.loveall(at)ekahau.com; GOJO Media Contact: Joe Drenik, +1-330-255-6357, drenikj(at)gojo.com