When Princeton Baptist and Proventix teamed up to tackle the issue of hand hygiene compliance in 2010, the results were a 22% reduction in infection over a 4 month period. 

Based on the results, Princeton Baptist expanded the technology from the post-surgical unit to other parts of the hospital. “We’ve been on multiple floors and we’re staying on average across those floors in the mid 20% range [of infection reductions]. There was enough savings on two floors to cover the cost of the system across the whole hospital,” said Proventix CEO, Harvey Nix.

It is predicted that all of Princeton Baptist will be using the Proventix system by the end of 2011.  Administrators are also looking to expand their use of the device’s other communication features.

“We’re just getting to the point of integrating two-way communication on it, so that they’re able to use the screen to provide feedback and get feedback about the patient that they are about to take care of,” said Mr. Nix. For example, a device could be set to warn anyone washing his hands outside a particular patient’s room that the patient is under isolation precautions.

Read the full article from the July issue of ACP Hospitalist.