Methods for ensuring and tracking hand hygiene compliance

A system comprising:

• at least one hand hygiene dispenser comprising:
• a reservoir configured to hold hand sanitizer,
• an actuator for dispensing hand sanitizer,
• a sensor for determining an amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir,
• a wireless transmitter configured to transmit user performance data from the dispenser, and
• an indicator associated with the actuator that signals when a user dispenses hand sanitizer to notify the user that a signal is being transmitted;
• wherein the hand hygiene dispenser is identified by an individual user code;
• detecting whether users are using a predetermined amount of hand sanitizer for hand hygiene compliance by, for each dispenser, detecting a number of dispenser activations, determining by the sensor the amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir, and comparing, by the respective hand hygiene dispenser, the number of dispenser activations with the amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir determined by the sensor;
• and
• a computing device configured to perform:
• determining by a processor dispensing rates of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers for a plurality of predetermined time periods;
• identifying each of the plurality of the hand hygiene dispensers with individual user codes and anonymously providing the user codes to the individual users and determining locations of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers;
• calculating an average dispensing rate based on a predetermined number of dispensing rates;
• displaying the dispensing rates of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers;
• sending a notification to an individual user regarding performance based on the individual user's hand hygiene dispensing rates and whether the predetermined amount of hand sanitizer is being used for hand hygiene compliance;
• and
• reviewing the dispensing of one or more of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers to determine whether one or more of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers has a higher dispensing rate to detect cheating by the one or more individual users for the one or more plurality of hand hygiene dispensers by calculating a mean time between dispenser activations for each dispenser and determining whether a number of the dispenser activations occur below the mean time.

A non-transitory computer usable medium storing computer readable instructions therein, said instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to implement a method comprising:

• determining by a processor dispensing rates of a plurality of hand hygiene dispensers for a plurality of predetermined time periods, wherein the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers each has a reservoir having hand sanitizer in the reservoir, a sensor for determining an amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir, and an indicator to notify the individual user that a signal is being transmitted;
• identifying each of the plurality of the hand hygiene dispensers with an individual user code and providing anonymously the user code to the user;
• normalizing the dispensing rates of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers by calculating an average dispensing rate for each dispenser based on a predetermined number of dispensing rates for the dispenser;
• detecting whether users are using a predetermined amount of hand sanitizer for hand hygiene compliance by, for each dispenser, detecting a number of dispenser activations, determining by the sensor the amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir, and comparing, by the respective hand hygiene dispenser, the number of dispenser activations with the amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir;
• displaying the average dispensing rates of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers;
• notifying an individual user regarding performance based on the individual user's dispensing rates and whether the predetermined amount of hand sanitizer is being used for hand hygiene compliance;
• and
• reviewing the dispensing of one or more of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers to determine whether one or more of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers has a higher dispensing rate to detect cheating by the one or more individual users for the one or more plurality of hand hygiene dispensers by calculating a mean time between dispenser activations for each dispenser and determining whether a number of the dispenser activations occur below the mean time.

A computer-implemented method for tracking dispensing of a plurality hand hygiene dispensers, comprising:

• providing a plurality of hand hygiene dispensers, each hand hygiene dispenser having a reservoir configured to hold hand sanitizer, each hand hygiene dispenser being associated with an individual user;
• determining by a processor user IDs and associating the user IDs with the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers and determining locations of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers;
• displaying each associated user ID to each user;
• determining by a processor dispensing rates of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers;
• detecting whether users are using a predetermined amount of hand sanitizer for hand hygiene compliance by, for each dispenser, detecting a number of dispenser activations, determining by a sensor of the dispenser an amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir, and comparing, by the respective hand hygiene dispenser, the number of dispenser activations with the amount of hand sanitizer in the reservoir;
• displaying the dispensing rates of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers;
• sending a notification to an individual user regarding performance based on the individual user's hand hygiene dispensing rates and whether the predetermined amount of hand sanitizer is being used for hand hygiene compliance;
• and
• reviewing the dispensing of one or more of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers to determine whether one or more of the plurality of hand hygiene dispensers has a higher dispensing rate to detect cheating by the one or more individual users for the one or more plurality of hand hygiene dispensers by calculating a mean time between dispenser activations for each dispenser and determining whether a number of the dispenser activations occur below the mean time.