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INFECTION PREVENTION
up to nearly 100%.
More big brotherly than Big Brother
Arrowsight, the company that does our monitoring, has staff on duty 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, at various offsite facilities. That's important because there's no added burden for our already-busy hospital staff. Another key to success: We're concentrating on teamwork; as noted above, we're not looking to single out individuals for non-compliance. In fact, when we see the video, faces are blurred out, so we can't tell who's who. Plus, the auditors aggregate all data and hospital leaders see only the aggregate, never the raw data. Finally, all data is destroyed within 24 hours.
The point is, we're not looking to single anyone out. What we want to see is what's happening on the floor as a whole. So if an issue exists, we can address the whole team. The data and the conversations that come from the data are what help people improve. We want people to understand and be proud when they're doing things right, and to know when they aren't. By encouraging instead of punishing them, we target their desire to do the right thing. And people, we've found, rise to the occasion.
THUMBS UP Video monitoring and the right kind of feedback made
hand-washing rates zoom from 10% to almost 90%.
Substantial ROI
Studies suggest that without encouragement, hospital workers wash their hands about 30% of the time they interact with patients. Other studies suggest that hospital-acquired infections cost $30
