Sealed Air Corp. said it has introduced VSS Vision Safety Solutions, a service offering that enables health care facilities to improve hand hygiene compliance among health professionals.
In a release on Oct. 6, the company said the VSS service increases hygiene and safety in hospitals through its technology that visually detects, records, and notifies of improper or insufficient hand washing and sanitizing events.
William V. Hickey, Sealed Air Chief Executive Officer, said, "VSS Vision Safety Solutions is the first joint offering from Sealed Air and Diversey, which is now part of Sealed Air following the completion of the acquisition on October 3. It leverages Sealed Air technology and Diversey's expertise in cleaning and hygiene and its access to major health care providers. The VSS system also offers Diversey brand hand hygiene products."
Currently available only in the United States, the company said that VSS offers health care providers a "cost effective way and a potential new tool" in the fight to reduce the number of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) by increasing compliance with hand hygiene. According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year approximately 100,000 people in the United States die from an illness acquired during a stay at a health care facility. The CDC also states that HAIs cost the health care industry more than $30 billion annually.
VSS Vision Safety Solutions is currently in trial at several health care facilities in the United States, including the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview and Indiana University Health. These institutions are using the VSS service offering to detect and record:
-when hand hygiene occurs;
-the duration of each hand washing event; and
-confirmation that each individual uses soap and/or sanitizer.
"VSS enables us to have hand washing data down to the individual worker level," said Dr. Douglas Webb, Medical Director of Infection Prevention at Indiana University Health. "This information was not available to us before. As a result, we can ensure our health care providers are in full compliance and correct any deficiencies in their practices."
Russ Williams, Vice President of Professional Services, University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview, added, "VSS delivers data that we can then use to change behaviors and take our organization to the next level of excellence."
The VSS technology, powered by Sealed Air's patent pending VTID Vision Tracking and Identification system, is a computer vision technology consisting of RFID sensors and software programs that utilize complex algorithms to process and analyze the imagery. The system detects non-compliant imagery and can transmit alerts that can be accessed by hospital staff members only. In addition to monitoring for compliance, the data can be used for training.
Each health care worker wears an ID badge with an RFID tag that detects when they approach a sink or sanitizing station. A small digital detection device that is strategically positioned monitors each hand washing event. An additional detection device then records if soap or sanitizer is used and how long the hand washing event takes place.
"Providing employees with actionable information on a regular basis helps health care facilities improve their hand hygiene compliance rate which ultimately results in improved patient care," said Carolyn Cooke, Vice President, Diversey Americas Health Care Sales. "VSS Vision Safety Solutions is uniquely capable of providing an assessment of hand washing techniques, including water and soap use and the length of time spent washing."
Sealed Air is a company focused on food safety and security, facility hygiene and product protection. On a pro forma basis, Sealed Air generated revenue of $7.6 billion in 2010 and has approximately 26,000 employees who serve customers in 175 countries.