Touching is inevitable in patient care. INFECTION IS NOT.

These are the underlying principles in our solutions design.  And we believe we have found a way to help hospitals systematically drive change and improve compliance by addressing the root of the problem.

Years of testing and input from observers, infection preventionists, educators, quality leaders, nursing leaders, epidemiologists and doctors have put Semmel Hand Hygiene to the test.

A single inter-operable standard

We’ve seen different interpretations of data collection methods in hospitals. Sample sizes that are incongruent with population size, fluctuating sample size, backfilling quota and unknown dispersal of observation times are some of the common examples. Different data collection methods questions the validity of data and you do not get the assurance of your infection control practice.

The aim of Semmel is to standardise data collection so that hand hygiene knowledge, skills and practices become transferable and inter-operable. A tool like Semmel ensures the standard is not corrupted over time and minimises variability in the data. The result is a single yardstick to measure compliance where results are comparable month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year as well as inter and intra institutions.

Observers Are The Key

Each observer is the key to unlock the effectiveness of hand hygiene. Accurate feedback depends on it. Rather than a game of “gotcha”, audit rounding is welcomed as an opportunity to validate staffs’ hand hygiene practice and to record observations that will help them learn and improve through accurate feedback. This is how we connect training to on-ground practice and to clinical process improvements. Observers perform their role by recording the context of their observation while leaving it to Semmel to automate feedback, reminders and coaching.

Context is King

To improve, you need reports that are person aware and context aware. Clinical and non-clinical activities are embedded in the observations to better explain behaviour and competency level. Data presented to different stakeholders is customised to increase the meaning for each group. These are specific to the clinical area, thus linked to a defined environmental and clinical context. This level of detail help the staff and department know where improvements can be made and integrating compliance as a matter of departmental or individual pride rather than enforcing it as another layer of managerial bureaucracy, hence turning progress itself into a reward.

Build Network Effect

Getting contextual data, accountability and feedback piece is where hospitals really struggle. Deliver these across a network of hospitals with existing manual tools is just too laborious to gain any returns.  Feedback loop is the soul of any improvement programs and it needs to reach a scale fast enough to build critical mass to drive the right culture.  An air around safety culture is a better nudge to hand wash than explicit coaching.  The ability of Semmel to automate and scale feedback is the trump card.

Hawthorne effect?

There is Hawthorne effect because there is no resolute acceptance of hand hygiene. There is no resolute acceptance to hand hygiene because there are internal and/or environmental conflicts. Hand hygiene monitoring is not a case of a cat catching mice. Setting this up sends a wrong message. Our premise is that we all want to do no harm and we should set up systems and culture that supports that.  Tom and Jerry is a never ending story. Everybody gets tired at some point.

Mystery Audits

Mystery audits perpetuate a Tom & Jerry scenario. While the intention may be good, some feel “targeted”. We've heard feedbacks from observers who felt "as though the staff was performing hand hygiene for me”. Random sampling doesn’t have to be mysterious sampling. We agree to anytime audits but not mystery audits. It does not create a partnership feeling that we are all in this together.

Independence

No, you don’t need to buy any hand sanitisers to subscribe to our system and program. It doesn’t come as a free tool “bundled” with hand sanitisers. Our mission is to develop hand hygiene improvement tools and programs, not pushing sanitisers. Independence gives us the freedom to construct to the best interest of patients and hospitals.  So we continuously invest in our tools to make it better for you.

Our channel partners share the same philosophy. If our tool is provided free to you, they are paid for by our partners and our service contract is signed between you and us, not with them. This guarantees business and service continuity, the data belongs to you and you can terminate anytime with a free mind. No strings attached and no fine prints.