Using Thermal Imaging to Measure Hand Hygiene Quality
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Hand hygiene has long been promoted as the most effective way to prevent the transmission of infection. However, due to the low compliance and quality of hand hygiene reported in previous studies, constant monitoring of healthcare workers' hand hygiene compliance and quality is crucial. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of using a thermal camera together with an RGB camera to detect hand coverage of alcohol-based formulation, thereby monitoring handrub quality. The system yields promising results in terms of accuracy (93.5 after performing handrub. In addition, we also examine the system performance change over a 60-second observation period, and the accuracy and Dice coefficient still remain at about 92.4 the 60-second time point. Given these encouraging results, thermal imaging shows its potential feasibility in providing accurate, constant, and systematic hand hygiene quality monitoring.
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