Called MedSense Clear, the system revolves around a badge worn by hospital staff. The badge can tell when a worker comes near or leaves a patient’s side, and whether that worker has used an alcohol-based sanitizer or soap dispenser during those times. It also vibrates to remind workers to wash up. The badge then sends data to a base station that pushes the data to a Web page where individuals can monitor their hand-washing, and administrators can see data about overall hand-hygiene compliance among staff.
The question, I guess, is whether the buzzing will end up being another cause of alarm fatigue--only to be ignored or bypassed in some way. The results of the initial study was promising:
A 2014 study in the Journal of Infection and Public Health concluded that compliance with WHO hand-washing rules jumped 25 percent in one month when staff used MedSense in a 16-bed hospital unit at Salmaniya Medical Complex in Bahrain.
We have to wonder if this is the Hawthorne Effect at work. How persistent is the effect? Time will tell.