Electric co. aligns with 27 state hospitals to reduce HAIs
Alabama Power, an electricity company, is partnering with 27 hospitals across the state and Birmingham-based healthcare technology company Proventix Systems to help reduce healthcare-associated infections.
The hospitals involved in the project have installed Proventix’s nGage System, which uses communication units and radio-frequency badges tied to a data and compliance monitoring system. By using the system, hospitals can measure when and how often their badged employees and healthcare professionals wash their hands. Participating hospitals have installed the system in patient rooms and other places where patient care is provided.
Rich Embrey, chief medical officer of Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, and a team at Princeton Baptist conducted a seven-month study to determine whether increased hand-washing prompted by the nGage System could reduce infection rates. During the study period, infection rates dropped 22 percent in the unit where the system was installed. That translated into 159 fewer patient days and estimated savings of more than $133,000, Alabama Power noted.
The following hospitals are Putting Power into Healthcare:
The hospitals involved in the project have installed Proventix’s nGage System, which uses communication units and radio-frequency badges tied to a data and compliance monitoring system. By using the system, hospitals can measure when and how often their badged employees and healthcare professionals wash their hands. Participating hospitals have installed the system in patient rooms and other places where patient care is provided.
Rich Embrey, chief medical officer of Princeton Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, and a team at Princeton Baptist conducted a seven-month study to determine whether increased hand-washing prompted by the nGage System could reduce infection rates. During the study period, infection rates dropped 22 percent in the unit where the system was installed. That translated into 159 fewer patient days and estimated savings of more than $133,000, Alabama Power noted.
The following hospitals are Putting Power into Healthcare:
- Andalusia Regional Hospital
- North Mississippi Medical Center - Hamilton (Marion Regional)
- Baptist Medical Center East, Montgomery
- Medical Center Enterprise
- Baptist Medical Center South, Montgomery
- Medical West, an affiliate of UAB Health System
- Brookwood Medical Center, Homewood
- Northwest Medical Center, Winfield
- Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital, Demopolis
- Prattville Baptist Hospital
- Children’s of Alabama, Birmingham
- Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Birmingham
- Citizens Baptist Medical Center, Talladega
- St. Vincent’s Birmingham
- Cullman Regional Medical Center
- St. Vincent’s East
- DCH Regional Medical Center, Tuscaloosa
- St. Vincent’s Blount
- Flowers Hospital, Dothan
- St. Vincent’s St. Clair
- Infirmary West, Mobile
- Shelby Baptist Medical Center
- Jackson Hospital and Clinic, Montgomery
- Trinity Medical Center, Birmingham
- Jacksonville Medical Center
- UAB Hospital, Birmingham
- Walker Baptist Medical Center, Jasper