Ultra-low Power Beacon-based Hand Hygiene Assistance System for Hospitals and Care Facilities

Abstract

Healthcare acquired infections are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. In order to combat with this issue, the World Health Organization has developed the five moments of hand hygiene. However, studies show that approximately only 50% of all necessary hand disinfections are done in hospitals and care facilities. These facts point out the need for the development of solutions which will improve the compliance to the hand hygiene regulations. In this paper a system for indirect hand disinfection assistance using ultra-low power Bluetooth Low Energy beacons is presented. A personal wearable hygiene assistant gives the user tailor-made feedback on compliance to the hand hygiene regulations. More precisely, the hand hygiene moments are mapped when entering or leaving defined areas. These areas are bounded by ultra-low power Bluetooth Low Energy beacons which are capable of bounding small areas due to their significantly low transmission power. The developed solution is capable of successfully detecting and assisting with three out of the five moments of hand hygiene. A proof of concept is successfully conducted using a prototype of the system in a simulated hospital environment.