Hand hygiene compliance system

1. A wearable hygiene monitoring unit for communicating with a plurality of zone beacons each transmitting respective zone identifying data, the unit comprising:

a receiver;

an alerting unit;

a memory having stored therein a group of hygiene status subroutines; and

a processor operable to

receive within a given zone said zone identifying data respective thereto via said receiver;

select a particular hygiene status subroutine from said stored hygiene status subroutines according thereto;

execute the selected hygiene status subroutine and, upon user non-compliance with said selected hygiene status subroutine;

activate said alerting unit.

2. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 1 , each said hygiene status subroutines corresponding to one of a number of infection risk levels, said zone identifying data identifying an infection risk level associated with said zone thereby enabling selection of an appropriate one of said hygiene status subroutines as a function thereof.

3. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 1 , each said hygiene status subroutines corresponding to one or a number of zone types, said zone identifying data identifying a zone type of said zone thereby enabling selection of an appropriate one of said hygiene status subroutines as a function thereon.

4. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 1 , further configured to receive, via the receiver, hygiene event data from a hygiene event detector, and process same in determining user compliance with said selected hygiene status subroutine.

5. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 1 , wherein said selected hygiene status subroutine comprises at least one timer selected from a group of timers according to said zone identifying data, said at least one timer identifying a time within which the user is to complete a hygiene event for compliance with said selected hygiene status subroutine.

6. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 1 , wherein said selected hygiene status subroutine comprises at least one alert selected from a group of alerts according to said zone identifying data.

7. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 1 , said zone identifying data comprising zone location data and/or zone type data, said memory having stored therein a plurality of predetermined zone locations and/or zone types and an indexed correlation between said predetermined zone locations and/or zone types and each of said hygiene status subroutines, said processor further operable to select said particular hygiene status subroutine as a function of said received zone location and/or zone type and said indexed correlation.

8. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit as defined in claim 1 , the processor further operable to:

receive within a new zone said zone identifying data respective thereto via said receiver,

select a new hygiene status subroutine from said stored hygiene status subroutines according thereto; and

execute the selected new hygiene status subroutine.

9. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit as defined in claim 8 , wherein the new subroutine includes an instruction to issue a distinct alert via said alerting unit upon user non-compliance with said new subroutine.

10. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit as defined in claim 9 , wherein the new subroutine comprises either a lower infection risk level subroutine for which said distinct alert comprises a lowered alert or no alert, a same infection risk level subroutine for which said distinct alert comprises a same alert, and a higher infection risk level subroutine for which said distinct alert comprises a heightened alert.

11. A system for monitoring hand hygiene among a number of human attendants in a facility, comprising:

a plurality of zone beacons mounted within respective zones of the facility and each transmitting zone identifying data respective thereto,

a number of wearable hygiene monitoring devices, each to be worn by an active attendant and comprising:

a receiver;

an alerting unit;

a memory having stored therein a group of hygiene status subroutines; and

a processor operable to

receive within a given zone said zone identifying data respective thereto via said receiver,

select a particular hygiene status subroutine from said stored hygiene status subroutines according thereto;

execute the selected hygiene status subroutine and, upon user non-compliance with said selected hygiene status subroutine;

activate said alerting unit.

12. The system as defined in claim 11 , the number of wearable monitoring devices including:

a. a first group of wearable monitoring devices for a first group of human attendants, the memory portion in each of the first group of wearable monitoring devices being operable to store a first group of hygiene status subroutines unique to the first group, and

b. a second group of wearable monitoring devices for a second group of human attendants, the memory portion in each of the second group of wearable monitoring devices being operable to store a second group of hygiene status subroutines unique to the second group.

13. A hygiene monitoring unit wearable by an attendant in a facility for communicating with one or more wearable sensors each communicating sensory data, the unit comprising:

a receiver;

an alerting unit;

a memory having stored therein a group of predetermined attendant activity feature data sets and a group of hygiene status subroutines associated therewith; and

a processor operable to:

receive sensory data via said receiver from said one or more wearable sensors;

compare said sensory data with said stored attendant activity feature data sets to identify a current attendant activity therefrom and associated hygiene status subroutine associated therewith;

execute said identified associated hygiene status subroutine; and

upon user non-compliance with said executed subroutine, activating said alerting unit.

14. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 13 , each said hygiene status subroutines corresponding to one of a number of infection risk levels, each of said group of said predetermined attendant activity feature data sets associated one of said infection risk levels, whereby said hygiene status subroutines are associated with said predetermined attendant activity feature data sets via corresponding infection risk levels.

15. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 13 , further configured to receive, via the receiver, hygiene event data from a hygiene event detector, and process same in determining user compliance with said identified hygiene status subroutine.

16. The wearable hygiene monitoring unit of claim 13 , wherein said identified hygiene status subroutine comprises at least one timer selected from a group of timers, said at least one timer identifying a time within which the user is to complete a hygiene event for compliance with said selected hygiene status subroutine, the unit further configured to receive, via the receiver, hygiene event data from a hygiene event detector, and process same in automatically determining user compliance with said identified hygiene status subroutine.

17. A system for monitoring hand hygiene among a number of human attendants in a facility, comprising:

a number of wearable sensor sets to be worn by respective attendants while in the facility and each set comprising one or more wearable sensors operable to communicate sensory data responsive to attendant activity; a number of hygiene monitoring units to be worn by said respective attendants, each of said units comprising:

a receiver;

an alerting unit;

a memory having stored therein a group of predetermined attendant activity feature data sets and a group of hygiene status subroutines associated therewith; and

a processor operable to:

receive sensory data via said receiver from said one or more wearable sensors;

compare said sensory data with said stored attendant activity feature data sets to identify a current attendant activity therefrom and associated hygiene status subroutine associated therewith;

execute said identified associated hygiene status subroutine; and

upon user non-compliance with said executed subroutine, activating said alerting unit.

18. The system as defined in claim 17 , each unit being further configured to:

form a group of identities for a corresponding number of successive current attendant activities;

store the identities;

predict a next attendant activity based on the stored identities;

select a next hygiene status subroutine according to the next attendant activity; and

execute the next hygiene status subroutine in advance of the next attendant activity.

19. The system as defined in claim 17 , said processor further operable to receive via said receiver hygiene event data from a wearable dispenser worn by the attendant or from a fixed dispenser, and process same in determining user compliance with said executed hygiene status subroutine.

20. The system as defined in claim 17 , the sensors including one or more of an accelerometer, a thermometer, a microphone, an elevation meter, a pressure meter, a motion sensor, a global positioning device, a gyroscope, a blood pressure monitor, a heart rate monitor, a muscle activity monitor (electromyographic (EMG) sensors, Mechanomyographic (MMG) sensors), a skin conductance sensor.

21. The system as defined in claim 19 , the hygiene event data representative of one or more of a hand wash disinfectant activation, a hand wash sink activation, a soap dispenser activation, a towel activation, a glove dispenser activation and blower activation.

22. The system as defined in claim 19 , one or more of the one or more sensors being configured to measure one or more signals of the attendant activity, including linear acceleration, angular acceleration, temperature, air pressure, and/or sound, or one or more physiological signals including heart rate, blood pressure, muscle activity, and/or skin conductance of the attendant.

23. The system as defined in claim 19 , the processor employing one or more pattern recognition subroutines to identify said current attendant activity.

24. A method of promoting hand hygiene compliance by a user in a facility via a wearable zone detector to be worn by the user, the wearable zone detector including an on-board control unit, a memory, a receiver and an alert unit, the method comprising:

a) receiving via the receiver a zone identifier signal from a zone within the facility, said zone identifier signal providing a zone identifier and a zone type of the zone to the on-board control unit;

b) comparing the provided zone identifier with a stored zone identifier stored in the memory to determine a change of zone;

c) responsive to determining a change of zone, starting at least one timer; and

d) responsive to expiration of the at least one timer, activating an alert;

the method further comprising, upon determining a zone change, automatically selecting via the on-board control unit one or more of said alert and said at least one timer according to said zone type identifier.