Case Study: University of Fukui Hospital

The University of Fukui hospital improves hand hygiene procedures by 300%.

SATO Corporation

University of Fukui logo

BACKGROUND

The University of Fukui Hospital is a premier special-purpose hospital striving to overcome intractable diseases. The hospital researches, develops and practices cutting-edge medical care with the support of the latest technologies.

University of Fukui hospital exterior - evening

CHALLENGE

The hospital aims to comply with the WHO hand hygiene guidelines, which are one of the standard precautions for infection prevention management. However, hand washing is, in general, thought to be an easy step to be overlooked when medical staff makes their patient rounds. Therefore, the University of Fukui Hospital was looking for an affordable and effective hand hygiene monitoring system to improve the hand sanitising habits of medical staff.

SOLUTION

The University of Fukui Hospital decided to develop a hand hygiene monitoring system using location-based technologies. The main requirement for the technology is high positioning accuracy as the system must detect not only the medical staff going in and out a room but also their real-time distances to patients.

Carecom logo 1

After having evaluated different options, the hospital chose a solution from SATO Healthcare and CARECOM, based on Quuppa RTLS technology. Quuppa Locators were installed overhead in hospital rooms and corridors while tags were attached to disinfection sprays and also carried by medical staff who do not have a spay with them. The signal from the tag is instantly transmitted to the Locators and so the system can detect the real-time location of medical staff. In addition, the system monitors sensors attached to the disinfection spray pumps to assess whenever they are used, indicating that hand hygiene practices are being followed. By combining all the data, it is now possible to identify immediately if medical staff have performed the disinfection in the right place at the right time.

RESULTS

According to the University of Fukui Hospital, the number of times medical staff performed hand hygiene while attending to a patient increased by more than 300% as a result of visualizing the presence and timing of hand hygiene practices. Hand hygiene practices are automatically monitored, providing a useful solution, without interrupting normal work by health care staff.

NEXT STEPS

The hospital is applying the solution intensively to boost hand hygiene practices within the facility. Meanwhile, SATO Healthcare and CARECOM are offering similar and more advanced solutions to other hospitals.

Healthcare professional using hand sanitizer

SATO Healthcare Co., Ltd. offers comprehensive solutions of printers, labels, software, and maintenance services designed specifically to meet the needs of healthcare industry professionals and their patients. For more information, visit: http://www.satoworldwide.com/
SATO Corp. / RTLS Japanese info: http://www.sato.co.jp

About CARECOM

CARECOM CO., LTD. is a leading company of the Nursing Support System Industry with 65 years of history and experiences in Japan. The company provides summit technology Nurse Call Systems and Nursing Support Solutions and Systems for efficient nursing care and patient safety widely used in hospitals in Japan. For more information, visit https://www.carecom.jp/global/

The solution is useful because hand hygiene is monitored automatically without any need for medical staff to interrupt their daily tasks.

University of Fukui logo Yuji Sakamoto, SMILE Unit Director

SATO Corporation

Case study partner
SATO Corporation


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