Children hear “Wash your hands” thousands of times during their early years as a warning to avoid ingesting “germs” that can make them sick. Despite these admonishments, kids often fail to take hand hygiene seriously. Not surprisingly, busy adults can sometimes forget to be diligent in this area as well. What is shocking is […]
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Vitalacy, the leading hand hygiene improvement platform, announces today that Ann Blouin, PhD, RN, MBA, FACHE, has agreed to join its board of directors. Dr. Blouin brings a wealth of healthcare leadership and clinical nursing experience to the Vitalacy board. Dr. Blouin served as the Executive Vice President of Customer Relations at The Joint Commission, providing leadership in aligning the strategic goals of the organization with
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Magnitude of the Problem According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, healthcare-associated-infections affect 1 in every 25 patients hospitalized in the United States on any given day. The consequences are staggering, with costs of tens of billions of dollars, the death of nearly 100,000 patients and hundreds of thousands of days of
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Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are used to prevent the spread of germs but may not be as effective as many believe. Further, some ingredients in these products are toxic which means that their use could cause both short and long-term side effects. Recently, the U.S Food and Drug Administration has voiced concerns and asked manufacturers to
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Studies show that overall, nurses are better at complying with hand hygiene requirements in clinical settings than physicians are. Both types of clinicians fall short of the 100-percent compliance mark as a group, though, and factors such as burnout can lead nurses to decrease hand-washing compliance on a regular basis. Nurse and Physician Hand Hygiene
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Whether prescribed or purchased as part of a fitness fad, wearable devices are changing the healthcare industry by reducing costs, increasing communication between patients and providers, decreasing recovery times, and even fostering compliance wins in facilities. The International Data Corporation clocked the wearable device industry at 101.9 million units sold in 2016 and estimates the
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Sometimes a new more-powerful antibiotic is right under your feet. Dirt may be the answer to a new class of antibiotics scientists have named malacidins. In something as simple and everyday as dirt, researchers at Rockefeller University in New York, have found a new antibiotic that shows promise for wiping out some of our toughest
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According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), handwashing with soap can reduce respiratory illnesses by more than 20% and diarrheal illnesses by up to 58%. It’s commonly thought that women are better at washing their hands than men, and published research seems to support this. The real question is: Why? What about women, from their experiences
Why Are Women Better at Washing Their Hands Than Men? Read More »
My sordid past with healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) began years ago when my cousin caught an HAI in a hospital emergency room. He had originally gone to the ER for stitches after falling off of his bike, but a few weeks after his visit, he started to feel ill. When he returned to the hospital, the
How Vitalacy Uses AI to Enhance Patient Safety in Healthcare Read More »
Golden-era science fiction dreams met widespread practical application in 2017 as machine learning increasingly became capable of performance in a production environment. From factories to finance, artificial intelligence and deep learning are leveraged to quickly analyze and act on big data, and the healthcare industry isn’t immune to these upgrades. In fact, the intersection between
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