DebMed to Participate in 24th Annual National Forum On Quality Improvement in Health Care

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- DebMed^®, creator of the world's first electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system based on the World Health Organization's (WHO's) "Five Moments for Hand Hygiene," will feature the DebMed® GMS™ (Group Monitoring System) at the upcoming Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) 24^th Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, December 9-12, in Orlando, FL. The conference is being held at the Marriott World Conference Center.

Attendees can experience the robust reporting features of DebMed GMS, which provides a more accurate, cost-effective and reliable way to measure healthcare workers' hand hygiene compliance to help improve patient safety than currently used methods.

"We encourage hospital leaders to improve the quality of care by moving to electronic hand hygiene monitoring", said Heather McLarney, Vice President, Marketing, DebMed. "The DebMed GMS plays a pivotal role in reducing unnecessary infections, and the IHI National Forum provides a terrific venue for us to demonstrate firsthand the value of our solution for significantly improving patient safety."

Only electronic monitoring captures 100 percent of hand hygiene events and provides real-time data, helping hospital staff increase their hand hygiene compliance. While hand hygiene is the number one way to reduce healthcare-associated infections, the WHO estimates that less than 50 percent of healthcare workers clean their hands as frequently as they should. 

In addition, the DebMed GMS system provides real-time reports and includes an online toolkit with materials designed to help change behavior and improve hand hygiene compliance.

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) is the world's first group monitoring system to report hand hygiene compliance rates in real-time based on the World Health Organization's (WHO) "Five Moments for Hand Hygiene" and to date has recorded more than 16 million hand hygiene events. The electronic monitoring 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). It is the first study aimed at reducing healthcare-associated infections in pediatric long-term care facilities by improving staff compliance with hand hygiene guidelines. Deb is the first hand hygiene company in the world to provide actionable information along with its hand hygiene products to help drive best practices and improved outcomes for patients worldwide. For more information on the study or DebMed, 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.

For media inquiries, contact: Holly Jespersen, 203-504-8230 x132, [email protected]

SOURCE DebMed