Apr 19, 2017
Hand hygiene is the number one line of defense when it comes to
controlling the spread of healthcare-associated infections (HAI)
and infectious disease. Since we know that antibiotic
and antimicrobial resistance is on the rise, and few new
antibiotics are being developed, it becomes exceedingly important
that we prevent people from acquiring these infections in the first
place.
Checkout our extensive coverage of
the Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) space
We know that hand-washing is effective when done right, and we
know that when monitored, we do it right. In fact, right after we
recorded this podcast the Jama Network showed us that patient mortality decreased during
unannounced accreditation surveys at US Hospitals. The point is
that you can expect what you inspect.
Episode 004 (part 3 of our IPAC series):
On this episode, we get into the details with Tamás
Haidegger and discuss:
- Why hand hygiene is so important
- How the struggle to get it right goes back to the 1800s
- The complex human psychology that we
need to address to solve this problem
- The astonishing number of people who fail hand-washing tests
even when they know they're being monitored
- Engineering solutions that can help keep us objective
- How hand-hygiene can save the U.S. healthcare system $9 Billion
next year
This conversation is way more fun than you think it's going to
be and very informative. I hope you enjoy!
- Don Lee
About Tamás Haidegger
Tamás Haidegger received his M.Sc. degrees from the Budapest
University of Technology and Economics (BME) in Electrical
Engineering and Biomedical Engineering in 2006 and 2008,
respectively. His Ph.D. thesis (2011) was based on a neurosurgical
robot he helped develop when he was a visiting scholar at the Johns
Hopkins University. His main field of research is
control/teleoperation of surgical robots, image-guided therapy, and
supportive medical technologies.
Currently, he is an associate professor at the Óbuda University,
serving as the deputy director of the Antal Bejczy Center for
Intelligent Robotic. Besides, he is a research area manager at the
Austrian Center for Medical Innovation and Technology (ACMIT),
working on minimally invasive surgical simulation and training,
medical robotics and usability/workflow assessment through
ontologies.
Tamás is the co-founder and CEO of a university
spin-off—HandInScan—focusing on objective hand hygiene control in
the medical environment. They are working together with Semmelweis
University, the University Hospital Geneva and the World Health
Organization POPS group.
About HandInScan
HandInScan Zrt. is a health-tech company focusing
on the unmet and critical need of reducing healthcare-associated
infections (HAIs) that causes more than 250,000 unnecessary deaths
in the developed world and 1.4 million cases a day
worldwide.
HandInScan was formed in 2012 as a spin-off of the Budapest
University of Technology and Economics (BME). As a spinoff project,
HandInScan was incubated at Demola from 2013. Original founders
were private individuals from the engineering development team,
aiming to create a device to objectively control hand hygiene
performance of medical staff. The innovation and the technology
transfer received numerous international awards. After the initial
successful validation with early prototypes of the Hand-in-Scan
device, the application domains were significantly extended to
target clean manufacturing sites, the food industry and high-end
tourism. The founders’ core team skill set included biomedical
engineering, infection prevention and control, electrical
engineering, computer science, finance, marketing and project
management. The company exclusively licensed the relevant patent
from BME, entitled “Method and apparatus for hand disinfection
quality control (HU P1000523)”.
HandInScan has a key partnership agreement with its
regional development partner, the Austrian Center for Medical
Innovation and Technology (ACMIT), and continued working together
with researchers at BME.
http://www.handinscan.com
Twitter: @HandInScan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handinscan
Tamás also mentioned the World Health Organization's Hand
Hygiene day on May 5th, 2017. Learn more here.
About the Infection Prevention and Control Series
This episode is part of The #HCBiz Show’s Infection Prevention
and Control (IPAC) series. We’d like to thank our partners
InfectionControl.tips and the Center of Excellence for Infection
Prevention and Control (COE IPAC) for their support and
guidance with the series.
About InfectionControl.tips
InfectionControl.tips is a Pan-Access journal that extends
globally and touches locally. www.IC.tips is: Free to Publish. Free to
Access and provides Accessible Scientific Services.
About Center of Excellence for Infection Prevention and
Control (COE IPAC)
Center of Excellence for Infection Prevention and
Control (COE IPAC) is a collaborative effort to
accelerate and support new solutions that hold the promise of
significantly advancing infection prevention and control. On a
quarterly basis, the Center of Excellence will evaluate at least 3
international innovations – giving them access to independent
testing, publication as well as a US commercialization site.
The #HCBiz Show! is produced by Glide Health IT, LLC in partnership with Netspective Media.
Soundtrack credit: Acid Lounge by FoolBoyMedia
