WO2019244028A1

WO2019244028A1 - Wearable warning device and corresponding method for hand hygiene

Info

Publication number: WO2019244028A1
Application number: PCT/IB2019/055094
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cristiano Ravetta; Fabio Todesco
Original assignee: Cristiano Ravetta; Fabio Todesco
Priority date: 2018-06-20
Filing date: 2019-06-18
Publication date: 2019-12-26
Also published as: IT201800006523A1

Abstract

Wearable device for increasing hand sanitation, comprising a dual reminder: a bacterial sensor in contact with the skin generates a warning for bacterial load exceeding a threshold; independently a counter issues reminders at predetermined intervals. The latter creates a habit and avoids that a threshold level of bacterial charge is reached, but can be silenced by the device wearer. The former ensures that the periodic reminder cannot be silenced to the point that a dangerous level is reached as well as detecting the need for sanitation in between the periodic intervals.

Description

WEARABLE WARNING DEVICE AND CORRESPONDING METHOD FOR HAND HYGIENE

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DESCRIPTION

0 The present invention relates in general to hand hygiene in any sector in which it is required, such as the healthcare sector and the food sector. The invention was made with particular regard to a warning device for hand hygiene and a warning process.

5 In Italy every year 5 to 8% of patients who undergo healthcare treatments contract an infection, which causes the death of about 5-6 thousand people and a cost to the national healthcare system of up to 1 billion euro .

0 20-30% of infections could be prevented by the simple gesture of appropriately sanitising hands.

Although healthcare operators are perfectly aware of the problem and the need for sanitisation, unfortunately this gesture is still not performed5 sufficiently .

To solve the problem, alarm devices have been created, in particular bracelets, which are worn by operators and emit a reminder alarm at regular time intervals, generally 10/15 minutes, to remind them to wash their hands . The alarm only stops when the bracelet recognises that the operator has washed his/her hands. The recognition takes place through a temperature sensor that detects the temperature reduction due to contact with water.

Devices of the prior art are described for example in the previous patents GB2417811 and GB2417810.

It is observed that although these patents date back over a decade (the first was filed in 2003 and the second in 2004), the related devices are not at all widespread in the medical sector, for which they were created, or in the food sector, which could have easily used them.

The reason probably relates to their poor practicality, as the operator is obliged to move away to find a wash basin, and their easy eludibility, as the alarm also stops if the operator has simply refreshed his/her wrist but without washing his/her hands.

Documents therefore testify that for the whole of this long period in which the problem to be solved has been known and perceived, no really effective solution has been proposed and established in the sector, despite the problem itself appearing at first sight to be rather simple .

Further confirmation of the above comes from the patent documents filed between the previous ones and the present day: US2012/122079, US8922378, CN105715842; US2011/227740.

A diversion towards the invention can also be found in non-patent literature, for example by Hu Tao et Al: "Inkjet printing of regenerated silk fibroin: from printable forms to printable functions" Advanced Materials, Vol 27 n. 29, 1 August 2015, Pages 4273-4279. The suggestion therein is towards a battery-operated sensor printed onto a glove for changing colour in contact with bacteria.

An object of the present invention is to solve all or some of the drawbacks of the prior art .

A preferred object of the invention is that of providing a warning device for hand hygiene that is easy to use and difficult to elude.

A preferred object of the invention is that of providing a device that is easy and cheap to produce.

According to a first general aspect the present invention relates to a warning device for hand hygiene comprising at least one support that can be worn on the wrist and/or the hand, at least one device for generating at least one warning of the presence of a bacterial load comprising at least one bacterial load sensor placed on said support, and programmed to generate and terminate said warning based on the detection of the bacterial load sensor .

Advantageously such warning device cannot be eluded and is released from washing, as the device can operate with any type of sanitisation, even for example passing hands under UV rays or using a sanitising gel.

According to some preferred embodiments of the invention, the sanitisation device comprises at least one device for generating at least one sanitising frequency warning, programmed to emit a periodic sanitisation warning, for example at a predetermined frequency, where said generation device of at least one frequency warning comprises a means for stopping said frequency warning.

The invention offers the possibility to prevent the growth of a bacterial load up to the alarm level, but with respect to known systems that only comprise a frequency warning, it has the advantage of not being eludible thanks to the simultaneous presence of the bacterial load sensor and the related warning, which is preferably distinct and emitted regardless of the frequency warning.

Preferably the stopping means comprises at least a sanitisation detection means different from said load sensor and is programmed to stop the frequency warning based on the detection of the sanitisation by means thereof .

This aspect is particularly advantageous, as if the frequency warning only stopped with the load sensor, the growth of the load could not be prevented up to the alarm level, which would be a dangerous contamination state, whereas the device wishes to be above all preventive .

Preferably, on this point, said sanitisation detection means detects a different parameter from a bacterial load.

For example, it detects washing, preferably based on a temperature variation therefore it preferably comprises at least one temperature sensor.

According to some preferred embodiments, a synergy is envisaged by which said frequency warning is stopped, as well as by a sanitisation detection means different from said load sensor, also when a load warning stops .

Advantageously, the operator can choose to ignore the warning frequency and continue operating, especially if he/she is not close to a place for washing. Subsequently he/she must respect the load warning. In this way it is possible for a tolerance time buffer to occur between the frequency alarm and the load alarm that makes the device more practical with respect to the prior art. In other words, successive alarms of increasing gravity can occur and only respect for the last one (the load one) diffuses both of them.

According to some preferred embodiments of the invention said generation device of at least one sanitisation frequency warning comprises at least one time meter for generating the time intervals between one frequency warning and the subsequent one, where the time meter is programmed to reset the count of an interval and restart it when a load alarm is stopped.

According to some preferred embodiments of the invention the warning device comprises a trigger device that activates the generation device of at least one warning of the presence of a bacterial load and the generation device of at least one sanitisation frequency warning. Preferably, the trigger takes place when the warning device is worn.

According to a second general aspect thereof the invention relates to a warning process for hand hygiene characterised in that the following steps are performed by means of a device of the type indicated above:

- generating a warning when a predetermined level of bacterial load is detected on the hands and/or in adjacent places;

- stopping the warning when a lower level than the predetermined level is detected.

According to some preferred embodiments, the process also comprises the following steps:

- generating a sanitisation frequency warning at predetermined time intervals;

- stopping the frequency warning when a sanitisation is detected.

In that case, preferably, said sanitisation detection takes place by detecting a different parameter from the bacterial load.

In general, the frequency warning is also stopped when a bacterial load warning is stopped.

The count of a time interval between one sanitisation warning and the subsequent one restarts whenever a load warning or a frequency warning is stopped .

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the appended drawings and provided by way of indicative and non-limiting example. In such drawings :

- Figure 1 schematically shows a perspective view of a warning device according to the present invention;

- Figure 2 schematically shows a view from behind of the device of Figure 1;

- Figure 3 shows a block diagram of the operating logic of the device of the previous figures.

With reference to Figures 1 and 2, a warning device is shown which can generate warnings for sanitising hands according to the present invention, and indicated overall by reference number 1.

The warning device 1 comprises a device for generating at least one warning of the presence of a bacterial load indicated overall by reference number 2, a device for generating at least one sanitisation frequency warning indicated overall by reference number 3, a support 4 that can be worn on the hand or in an adjacent position .

The support 4 is represented herein for simplicity purposes as a wrist bracelet, however other forms such as a glove or a ring are not excluded.

The devices 2 and 3 share a warning emission means indicated overall by number 5. It is for example a vibration means, a luminous signal emission means, such as LED, or a sound signal emission means.

According to some variants the devices 2 and 3 have warning emission means that are distinct from each other, and/or the warnings emitted can be distinguished from each other.

With reference to Figure 3, the device for generating a bacterial load presence warning 2 comprises at least one skin bacterial load sensor, preferably placed in contact with the skin. The device 2 is programmed to emit a bacterial load presence warning signal when the sensor detects a quantity of bacterial load greater than or equal to a predetermined reference value. The warning signal stops when the load sensor detects a load below a predetermined value.

The sanitisation frequency warning generation device comprises a time meter and is programmed to emit a warning signal at a predetermined frequency so as to induce the user to sanitise his/her hands with a predetermined frequency equal to that of the signal, therefore it is known as a frequency warning.

The frequency warning is triggered when the time meter detects that since the last frequency signal corresponding to time T=0 a predetermined time period Tref has passed. A preferred magnitude of Tref is 10/15 minutes .

The frequency signal stops when the device 3 detects that the user has sanitised his/her hands. This preferably takes place as the device 3 comprises a temperature sensor that detects a temperature change consequent to the contact of the sensor with a sanitisation means, such as water or a gel, or a temperature change of the epidermis. The device 3 for example sets the temperature detected upon switching on as the reference temperature Temp. ref and evaluates when the difference between Temp. ref and the temperature detected in real time Temp is greater than a predetermined value. Preferably the temperature variation detected that triggers the end of the signal is in the order of 5-20°C. Naturally, other sanitisation detection systems, preferably different from the bacterial load detection, are not excluded. This is with the aim of preventing as much as possible the growth of the bacterial load up to the alarm level.

When the frequency signal is stopped the time meter is reset to time T=0 for calculating the subsequent period until Tref at which a new frequency signal will be emitted .

The devices 2 and 3 trigger the respective warning signals independently from each other, therefore the warning device 1 will also emit a warning before the expiry of Tref that the moment has come to sanitise the hands whenever an excessive bacterial load is detected.

On this point, it is observed that the devices 2 and 3 have a synergistic action with each other in stopping the signals when it is in the condition to emit both the load signal and the frequency signal. In this case if when a bacterial load signal is emitted the frequency signal is also active, the end of the bacterial load signal also stops the frequency signal and sets the time of the time meter to T=0 for the immediate restart of the calculation of another time cycle equal to Tref.

The warning device 1 also comprises a device for triggering the devices 2 and 3, in particular it can comprise for example a sensor for detecting the electric voltage in contact with the epidermis of the wrist, provided to detect the surface electric voltage of the skin to allow the devices 2 and 3 to start operating only when being worn. The device is also provided with an electronic system that allows the data related to the number and frequency of sanitisations performed by those wearing the device to be collected and sent to the control department. The data collection system counts for example how many times the frequency signals have been stopped.

Naturally, the embodiments and variants described and illustrated up to now are for purely exemplifying purposes and a person skilled in the art, to satisfy specific and contingent requirements, can make numerous modifications and variants, including for example the combination of said embodiments and variants, all actually contained within the scope of protection of the present invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A warning device for hand hygiene comprising at least one support (4) that can be worn on the wrist and/or the hand, at least one device (2) for generating at least one warning of the presence of a bacterial load comprising at least one bacterial load sensor placed on said support, and programmed to generate and terminate said warning based on the detection of the bacterial load sensor .

2. The device according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises at least one device (3) for generating at least one sanitising frequency warning, programmed to emit a periodic sanitisation warning, where said generation device of at least one frequency warning comprises a means for stopping said frequency warning.

3. The device according to claim 2, characterised in that said stopping means comprises at least a sanitisation detection means different from said load sensor and is programmed to stop the frequency warning based on the detection of the sanitisation.

4. The device according to claim 3, characterised in that said sanitisation detection means detects a different parameter from the bacterial load.

5. The device according to any one of claims 3 to 4, characterised in that said frequency warning is stopped, as well as by a sanitisation detection means different from said load sensor, also when a load warning stops .

6. The device according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterised in that said generation device (3) of at least one sanitisation frequency warning comprises at least one time meter for generating the time intervals between one frequency warning and the subsequent one, where the time meter is programmed to reset the count of an interval and restart it when a load alarm is stopped.

7. A warning process for hand hygiene characterised in that the following steps are performed by means of a device according to any one of the preceding claims :

8. The process according to claim 7, characterised by the following steps:

- generating a sanitisation frequency warning at predetermined time intervals;

- stopping the frequency warning when a sanitisation is detected.

9. The process according to claim 8, characterised in that said sanitisation detection takes place through the detection of a different parameter from the bacterial load.

10. The process according to claim 9, characterised in that the frequency warning is also stopped when a load warning stops .