Towards objective hand hygiene technique assessment: validation of the ultraviolet-dye-based hand-rubbing quality assessment procedure

Á Lehotsky; L Szilágyi; S Bánsághi; P Szerémy; G Wéber; T Haidegger

doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2017.05.022

Towards objective hand hygiene technique assessment: validation of the ultraviolet-dye-based hand-rubbing quality assessment procedure

J Hosp Infect. 2017 Sep;97(1):26-29. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.05.022. Epub 2017 Jun 1.

Authors

Á Lehotsky¹, L Szilágyi², S Bánsághi¹, P Szerémy³, G Wéber¹, T Haidegger⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgical Research and Techniques, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
² Department of Control Engineering and Information Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary; Computational Intelligence Research Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, Sapientia University of Transylvania, Tîrgu Mureş, Romania. Electronic address: lalo@ms.sapientia.ro.
³ Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Hungary.
⁴ Antal Bejczy Centre for Intelligent Robotics, Óbuda University, Budapest, Hungary; Austrian Centre for Medical Innovation and Technology, Wiener Neustadt, Austria.

PMID: 28579470
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.05.022

Abstract

Ultraviolet spectrum markers are widely used for hand hygiene quality assessment, although their microbiological validation has not been established. A microbiology-based assessment of the procedure was conducted. Twenty-five artificial hand models underwent initial full contamination, then disinfection with UV-dyed hand-rub solution, digital imaging under UV-light, microbiological sampling and cultivation, and digital imaging of the cultivated flora were performed. Paired images of each hand model were registered by a software tool, then the UV-marked regions were compared with the pathogen-free sites pixel by pixel. Statistical evaluation revealed that the method indicates correctly disinfected areas with 95.05% sensitivity and 98.01% specificity.

Keywords: Hand hygiene assessment; Infection control; Infection prevention; UV-dyed hand rub; Validation.

Publication types

Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

Fluorescent Dyes / analysis*
Hand Hygiene / methods*
Humans
Models, Theoretical
Optical Imaging / methods*
Quality Assurance, Health Care / methods*
Sensitivity and Specificity
Staining and Labeling / methods*
Ultraviolet Rays*

Substances

Fluorescent Dyes