Hill-Rom Announces Partnerships with GOJO and TeleTracking for Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitoring

BATESVILLE, Ind., Feb. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Hill-Rom, a worldwide provider of clinical workflow solutions for hospitals, has announced major partnerships with GOJO, makers of Purell® hand sanitizer, and TeleTracking Technologies, a world leader in real-time health care patient flow systems, to co-market integrations with the Hill-Rom^® Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution.  The partnerships debuted this week at HIMSS, the industry's largest health information technology meeting, in Orlando, Fla.

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Hand hygiene is a straightforward and effective method of preventing costly and deadly hospital-acquired infections (HAIs)^[1], yet many hospitals struggle to achieve even 50 percent compliance with recommended protocols.^[2]  The Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution continually monitors the patient care environment, reminding key personnel about critical hand washing events, and providing the data for sustainability.  Institutions that have implemented the Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution have experienced a significant increase in their hand hygiene compliance.^[3]

"The Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution helps hospitals address significant challenges they face responding to regulatory requirements," says Adam McMullin, Vice President and General Manager, Hill-Rom Clinical Workflow Solutions. "The Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution is a great example of our technology platform, which is designed to automate the clinical environment, help enhance productivity and safety, as well as the patient experience."

Hill-Rom's Hand Hygiene Monitoring and GOJO® SMARTLINK™ Technology

Hill-Rom and GOJO have developed an integrated hand-hygiene solution for hospitals and health care facilities to effectively monitor hand-hygiene compliance.  For the Hill-Rom and GOJO integrated solution, the GOJO SMARTLINK Technology is installed into PROVON® soap and PURELL® hand sanitizer dispensers and works with the Hill-Rom real-time locating solution (RTLS).  The hands-free dispenser was designed for the health care environment and features an internal wireless transmitter that lights up an external window when a staff member uses the dispenser and that data is recorded. 

"The name GOJO is synonymous with hand hygiene around the world," says McMullin. "Hospitals now have the opportunity to leverage the impact of two trusted brands to support their efforts at increasing hand-hygiene compliance and fighting HAIs."

GOJO Compliance Program Director, North America, Jeff Hall says: "Engaging in this critical work with a health care leader like Hill-Rom is significant.  The biggest reason an electronic monitoring system is necessary is that it allows for measurement and accountability. In order to help improve hand hygiene, we need to give hospitals the tools to measure it and the clinical education resources to interpret the data."

Monitoring More Than Hands: TeleTracking Integration

Real-time locating solutions are essential in today's over-stretched hospital.  Without them, nurses and other staff may waste countless hours searching for equipment, supplies or even fellow staff members and following inefficient procedures, all of which takes away time from their primary mission: patient care.

AssetTracking™ from TeleTracking Technologies is a leading RTLS that hospitals depend on for usable information on equipment and supplies for staff throughout the organization, from a nurse in need of specific supplies for a patient to an IT manager trying to locate equipment for preventative maintenance. The partnership announced at HIMSS will provide hospitals with the ability to use the same locating infrastructure to enable solutions that provide at-a-glance visibility to everything from equipment location to staff workflow and hand hygiene compliance.  

"RTLS systems ensure nurses and other staff members can quickly put their hands on what they need, when they need it," says McMullin.  "Now, the same locating technology will also be able to measure if those hands are clean.  We are pleased to be working with TeleTracking, a leader in the field, to provide this integration for customers of both systems."

"We are committed to leveraging the power of technology to sustain and improve processes within a hospital to improve patient care," says Mike Gallup, President, TeleTracking Technologies.  "Our partnership with Hill-Rom is an exciting extension of that mission, helping our customers bring together an essential monitoring system and provide another vital view of their organization's daily operations."

About the Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution

The Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution has tracked millions of hand-hygiene events. The system uses badge-based locating technology offering automatic, continuous monitoring and recording of every time a staff member uses a hand-hygiene station.  It alerts caregivers by providing a gentle reminder upon entering a care environment.  All of this happens without adding steps to the clinical workflow.  Once installed, the system creates a wireless web of connectivity in the patient care environment that can be leveraged beyond its primary role in tracking, reminding and reporting hand hygiene events, whether via Nurse Call, Smart Bed Connectivity, Staff Locating or a wide array of other real-time locating needs.

For more information about the Hill-Rom Hand Hygiene Compliance System, please visit http://www.hill-rom.com/hand-hygiene

ABOUT HILL-ROM HOLDINGS, INC.

Hill-Rom is a leading worldwide manufacturer and provider of medical technologies and related services for the health care industry, including patient support systems, safe mobility and handling solutions, non-invasive therapeutic products for a variety of acute and chronic medical conditions, medical equipment rentals, surgical products and information technology solutions.  Hill-Rom's comprehensive product and service offerings are used by health care providers across the health care continuum and around the world in hospitals, extended care facilities and home care settings to enhance the safety and quality of patient care.

Hill-Rom...enhancing outcomes for patients and their caregivers.

www.hill-rom.com

ABOUT GOJO

GOJO Industries, Inc. (www.gojo.com) is the inventor of PURELL® Advanced Instant Hand Sanitizer and the leading global producer and marketer of skin health and hygiene solutions for away-from-home settings.  The broad GOJO product portfolio includes hand cleaning, handwashing, hand sanitizing and skin care formulas under the GOJO®, PURELL® and PROVON® brand names. GOJO formulations use the latest advances in the science of skin care and sustainability.  GOJO is known for state-of-the-art dispensing technology, engineered with attention to design, sustainability and functionality.  GOJO programs promote healthy behaviors for hand hygiene, skin care and compliance in critical environments.  GOJO is a privately held corporation headquartered in Akron, with offices in the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Japan and Brazil.

ABOUT TELETRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

For over two decades, TeleTracking Technologies has helped hospitals achieve better patient flow through automation and process redesign that takes the time lag out of daily hospital operations. Today, TeleTracking provides an end-to-end platform which optimizes operations enterprise-wide in real-time.  Real-Time Capacity Management™ solutions deliver peak operational performance by automating as many of the physical functions of the hospital as possible and monitoring them in real time to increase efficiency in the delivery of care.  This tighter operational control drives out waste (both time and resources) and improves efficiencies, while still making sure that patients get to the right place at the right time with the right resources.  TeleTracking provides process planning, patient flow redesign and asset management optimization through its consulting division, and has been rated by KLAS (www.KLASresearch.com) as the patient flow Category Leader seven times in the last eight years. For more information, visit www.teletracking.com and join the conversation at http://blog.teletracking.com/.

SOURCE Hill-Rom