Technological Platform for the Prevention and Management of Healthcare Associated Infections and Outbreaks

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cyber-physical platform that uses wireless sensors and workflow monitoring to detect and prevent hospital infections, aiming to improve compliance with hygiene practices and reduce infection rates.

Contribution

It presents an extensible, configurable system integrating wireless sensor networks and workflow management to monitor hygiene compliance and prevent healthcare-associated infections.

Findings

Detects deviations from hygiene protocols in real-time

Supports automation of clinical workflow monitoring

Potential to reduce over 90% of hospital infections

Abstract

Hospital acquired infections are infections that occur in patients during hospitalization, which were not present at the time of admission. They are among the most common adverse events in healthcare around the world, leading to increased mortality and morbidity rates, prolonged hospitalization periods and considerable financial burden on both hospitals and patients. Preventive guidelines and regulations have been devised, however compliance to these is frequently poor and there is much room for improvement. This paper presents the prototype of an extensible, configurable cyber-physical system, developed under European Union funding, that will assist in the prevention of hospital infections and outbreaks. Integrating a wireless sensor network for the surveillance of clinical processes with configurable monitoring software built around a workflow engine as key component, our solution detects deviations from established hygiene practices and provides real-time information and alerts whenever an infection risk is discovered. The platform is described from both hardware and software perspective, with emphasis on the wireless network's elements as well as the most important software components. Furthermore, two clinical workflows of different complexity, which are included in the system prototype are detailed. The finalized system is expected to facilitate the creation and automated monitoring of clinical workflows that are associated with over 90% of hospital infections.