DebMed® to Introduce Suite of Hand Hygiene Compliance Solutions at the 2014 IPAC Canada National Conference

Canadian healthcare facilities now have access to only electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system based on standards recommended by the World Health Organization; convenient access to sanitizer at the point-of-care

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 22, 2014 /CNW/ - (IPAC booth #611) -- DebMed®, creator of the award-winning, world's first electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system based on hand hygiene standards recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and acknowledged by The Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), will debut its complete line-up of hand hygiene solutions for the clinical setting during the 2014 Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) Canada National Conference, May 25-28 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As healthcare hand hygiene compliance remains below 40 percent internationally according to the WHO, DebMed offers hospitals and other medical facilities a range of options to meet their specific needs for increasing compliance among all staff.

"Patient safety is of paramount importance to healthcare facilities both in Canada and across the world. The first and simplest step to protecting patients and staff from dangerous infections is proper hand hygiene compliance," said Heather McLarney, Vice President of Marketing, DebMed. "DebMed now offers Canadian healthcare facilities a low-cost, statistically proven hand hygiene compliance solution based on higher clinical standards that we believe will significantly help improve patient safety."

Demonstrated at IPAC will be the DebMed GMS™ (Group Monitoring System), both electronically monitored and unmonitored point-of-care dispensers, and the Optidose™ one-shot sanitizer dispenser which assures the optimal amount of alcohol-based handrub. DebMed will also be running a contest with the widely recognized germ expert, Jason Anthony Tetro, also known as The Germ Guy.

Electronic Group Monitoring
The DebMed GMS electronically tracks if healthcare workers are cleaning their hands as frequently as they should, and provides real-time feedback to staff via customized reports to help improve hand hygiene compliance. It draws on an evidence-based, statistically valid algorithm which determines how many times healthcare workers should have cleaned their hands, customized to each hospital unit based on the number of patients and frequency of care.

Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is currently conducting an ongoing pilot of the DebMed GMS. Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at the hospital said, "in the first two months, hand hygiene adherence increased by 15 percent."

The DebMed GMS is the only system available in Canada that tracks staff hand hygiene compliance based on the World Health Organization's "Four Moments for Hand Hygiene" standard that is commonly used in Canadian hospitals. The Four Moments are: before contact with the patient or patient environment (such as touching the bed rail or curtain); before an aseptic procedure such as starting an IV; after risk of exposure to body fluids; and after contact with the patient or patient environment.

Hand Hygiene Compliance at the Point-of-Care
Many times clinicians find themselves in care areas, such as the neonatal intensive care unit, where convenient access to hand sanitizer is needed right at the patient bedside rather than from wall dispensers. That is why DebMed also provides dispensers for the point-of-care, available either as part of the electronic hand hygiene monitoring system or unmonitored that can be mounted on beds, carts and bedside tables, enabling healthcare professional to sanitize their hands within the patient zone and comply with the WHO Four Moments of Hand Hygiene.

The Right Amount in "One Shot"
Analysis drawn from real-time operating hospital environments using the DebMed GMS shows that nine out of 10 of healthcare workers access hand sanitizer using only one push of a dispenser. As a result, DebMed has created a new dispensing technology called Optidose™ that delivers the optimal amount of sanitizer required to complete a proper hand sanitization with just one dose.

Drawing on the data from more than eight million hand hygiene events captured by the DebMed GMS over eight months, DebMed's Optidose is the first single-dose foaming sanitizer technology to deliver the appropriate volume of sanitizer to achieve a proper hand sanitization.

A key element of DebMed Optidose is that it achieves the optimal "wet time" of 15 to 20 seconds as recommended by the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC), enabling healthcare workers to perform a proper and complete hand sanitizing event. This combination of proper "dose" and "wet time" is critical to preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Jason Anthony Tetro, The Germ Guy
Bringing education to conference attendees in a fun and interactive way, Jason Anthony Tetro, The Germ Guy, and author of science best-seller "The Germ Code" will be joining DebMed to play "Are You Smarter than The Germ Guy?" Attendees are invited to test their knowledge of germs and all things hand hygiene compliance-related with Tetro at DebMed's booth #611. Participants are eligible for a free signed copy of "The Germ Code."

9th Annual Run or Walk for International Federation of Infection Control (IFIC)
DebMed is also sponsoring The 2014 Run or Walk for Fun Monday, May 26. The event is in aid of the IPAC Canada Scholarship, which assists Infection Control Professionals from under-funded or under-resourced countries to attend the annual IFIC education meeting. The Run or Walk for Fun is a 5 kilometer run or 2.5 kilometer walk. Check-in will open at 6:00 a.m. and the race will start at 6:30 a.m. leaving from Harbourfront. For registration information, visit http://www.ipac-canada.org/conf_ific.php.

About DebMed®
DebMed is the healthcare program of the Deb Group. The DebMed program offers innovative hand hygiene products, electronic monitoring technology, and improvement tools to support hand hygiene compliance. The DebMed® GMS™ (Group Monitoring System), winner of the 2013 Frost & Sullivan Hand Hygiene Solutions New Product Innovation Award, is the world's first group monitoring system to report hand hygiene compliance rates based on the World Health Organization's (WHO) "Five Moments for Hand Hygiene" and to date has recorded more than 35 million hand hygiene events. The system is being utilized in a four year, multi-site research project being conducted by the Columbia University School of Nursing and funded by a $1.2 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). For more information, visit www.debmed.com.

About Deb Group
Possessing international scale and strong local market presence, Deb Group provides innovative skin care programs for all types of workplace and public environments, spanning industrial, commercial, healthcare and food sectors. Headquartered in the United Kingdom with US operations based in Charlotte, NC, Deb Group is comprised of 21 companies operating in 16 countries. For more information, visit www.debgroup.com.

SOURCE: DebMed

Amy DiSanto, 203-504-8230 x124, [email protected]

http://www.debmed.com