Hunterdon Healthcare Partners With SwipeSense to Boost Patient and Staff Safety, Reinforce Dedication to Delivering Top Quality Care for its Community
Award-winning teaching health system to implement industry's leading electronic hand hygiene monitoring technology
CHICAGO, Oct. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunterdon Healthcare, a leading community health system based in Northwest New Jersey, has selected SwipeSense's Hand Hygiene Monitoring application to help prevent hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). With the introduction of the SwipeSense application, Hunterdon, which was already honored with an "A" Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade in 2021, will now have additional technology to support its ongoing efforts to be among the safest hospitals in the nation.
The early results for one unit of the health system already show substantial improvement in hand hygiene behaviors with the unit increasing its compliance rate by 20 percent in just 2 months of implementation. These metrics are critically important because hand hygiene compliance is largely recognized as one of the most critical patient safety measures. Poor hand hygiene contributes to 1.7 million HAIs annually – and 100,000 of those HAIs result in deaths. A recent SwipeSense survey also found that 81% of patients said that they would feel safer in a hospital with electronic hand hygiene monitoring in place.
"At Hunterdon, we pride ourselves on prioritizing patient safety because we firmly believe that our community members deserve the best and safest care when they place their trust in our health system," said Martin Klein, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Hunterdon Healthcare. "Now, we're furthering that commitment by building a tech-driven safety infrastructure to help fuel the results that we've set out to achieve. Partnering with SwipeSense empowers us to take a data-driven approach to tracking every opportunity to keep our patients safe and to increase compliance with hand hygiene standards."
SwipeSense's cloud-based sensor network provides transparency into hand hygiene activity for each department, unit and individual to drive accountability and positive behavior changes – all without changing workflows. As a result, hospitals that use SwipeSense have reduced HAIs by as much as 75% in one year. The electronic hand hygiene monitoring technology also positions Hunterdon to meet The Leapfrog Group's recently updated hand hygiene standards, supporting continuous safety improvement efforts to maintain its prestigious "A" Safety Grade.
"We're thrilled to partner with Hunterdon, an organization which is committed to operational excellence, and has illustrated that keeping patients safe is of the utmost importance," said David Epstein, Vice President of Operations at SwipeSense. "As the early results indicate, our Hand Hygiene application helps the Hunterdon team not only to increase hand hygiene compliance but also to reduce the number of costly and dangerous HAIs and continue its reign as one of the nation's safest hospitals."
About Hunterdon
Hunterdon Healthcare System (HHS) is recognized as a national model for offering community-focused health improvement that is consumer-centered and driven by a passion for excellence. HHS offers community programs and services which span the full continuum of care, generates revenue of approximately $330 million annually, and employs over 2,600 employees. Care delivery includes a 178-bed community teaching hospital, supporting foundation, over 30 ambulatory sites, urgent care centers, health and wellness centers, ambulatory surgery centers, post-acute care services and an integrated delivery system which is a partnership with over 400 physicians and Hunterdon Medical Center.
About SwipeSense
SwipeSense is a Chicago-based healthcare technology company on a mission to eliminate harm and waste in healthcare delivery networks through an advanced safety platform. The platform's sensor network collects millions of data points and delivers robust insights to hospital leadership, clinicians, and staff, which not only support a culture of safety, but also reduce the cost of care and improve operational efficiency. Hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) leverage the company's safety platform to prevent infections, optimize the use of their equipment, reduce falls, protect their staff, and drive positive, lasting behavior change. To learn more, please visit www.swipesense.com.
Media Contact:
Todd Stein
510-417-0612
[email protected]
SOURCE SwipeSense, Inc.
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