Hi I’m Kathy. I’m a nurse, and I created Fitsi, a simple, low cost solution for reducing healthcare acquired infections and improving patient comfort. Let me tell you more about it…
Nobody goes to the hospital to get sick. But in the US, 1 in 20 patients will contract a Healthcare Acquired Infection. That amounts to 2 million people each year. Of these, 100,000 die. At 275 patient deaths per day, this is more than the number of breast and prostate cancer deaths combined. Heathcare acquired infections are draining the healthcare system of time and money. Patients with infections stay an average of 19 days longer than others and hospitals spend 10% of their operating budget fighting these infections. This costs the US Healthcare System over $30B each year. With 70% of these infections resistant to at least one antimicrobial drug, it’s widely known that prevention through proper hand hygiene is our best defense.
The problem is, most efforts to promote hand hygiene focus solely on the role of healthcare workers, but not enough on the role of patients. Now why is this important? Studies show that after only 48 hours of hospitalization, 39% of patients’ hands already tested positive for antibiotic resistant bacteria. But what’s more alarming is the finding that even if patients don’t test positive, they can still turn out to be silent carriers, quietly transmitting bacteria that ultimately infects many others.
Patient hand hygiene clearly cannot be ignored. The fact that patients are not able to clean their hands on their own presents a serious problem that no one is addressing… until now…
Introducing Fitsi. a new kind of patient bedside product designed to give patients more safety and comfort. It gets to the heart of the problem by easily attaching to the patient’s bedside, making hand washing easy to do without the help of a caregiver, and keeping comfort essentials conveniently nearby. Its’ patent pending design keeps it level even as the bed changes position. while the built-in handle and flat bottom make it easy to carry and set down on any flat surface.
Here are some examples of how Fitsi helps patients:
More Safety
More Comfort
More Support
By helping patients be more independent, Fitsi also gives nurses more support. Nurses loose precious time each day helping patients who lose things like mobile phones in the bedsheets. With Fitsi, these needs are taken care of…saving nurses an average of 5-8 minutes per shift as well as the stress associated with helping patients with these basic tasks.
Studies show that patients are too uncomfortable asking healthcare workers if their hands are clean, but that people are more likely to wash their hands if there’s something encouraging them to do so. Fitsi makes reminding healthcare workers and visitors to clean their hands less awkward. It increases patient awareness and overall safety. What’s even better is Fitsi is low in cost and easy to implement. It’s the simplest yet most effective way to improve patient safety and comfort…to give patients more.
Fitsi. Giving patients and caregivers more.