Chris Hermann 19M

Chris Hermann 19M combined his medical and engineering degrees to come up with a seemingly simple solution to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) by creating Clean Hands – Safe Hands technology. Most medical professionals wear some sort of badge reel attached to their collar or belt to house their credentials. Hermann’s technology replaces that reel with one that has embedded Bluetooth technology to communicate with sensors at hand-washing stations in patient care areas. If a clinician walks in or out of a patient’s room, the sensors detect the movement. Then the clinician has a certain number of seconds to dispense the sanitizer or soap. If not, a voice reminder says, “Please sanitize.” 

Those two words have been revolutionary. In the ten most recent hospital installations, data was gathered for six months, showing a decrease in HAIs by more than 60%. That translates to preventing almost 400 HAIs, saving almost $10M and about 40 lives per year.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn, and visit Clean Hands – Safe Hands' website.