About us
Backed by over 20 years of scientific research and clinical validation, Hygienic Echo’s Smart Hand Hygiene and Infection Prevention Solutions deliver a new standard in healthcare safety. Our system features intelligent, wearable badges that prompt hand hygiene only when necessary—boosting compliance without adding to the workload.
These smart reminders can more than double hand hygiene compliance, while our automated, unbiased 24/7 auditing system replaces traditional manual methods. Real-time data collection, detailed reporting, and actionable insights empower IPAC teams and clinical managers to proactively prevent infections and improve care quality.
With flexible configurations and scalable design, our solutions are tailored to meet the unique needs of various industries and organizations.
About us
Hygienic Echo’s Electronic Hand Hygiene and Infection Prevention Solutions feature wearable badges that prompt hand hygiene only when necessary. By improving hand hygiene compliance without adding to the workload and automating hand hygiene audits, our system helps prevent infection across healthcare environments—including hospitals, long-term care, and congregate spaces. As a result, it helps save lives and protect staff, patients, residents, and families by reducing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), outbreaks, emergency transfers, lengths of stay, and infection-related mortality.
Why Hand Hygiene Matters
Hand hygiene (HH) is not just a routine practice; it is a critical pillar of infection prevention and a cornerstone of public health. The significance of HH lies in its unparalleled effectiveness in reducing the spread of infections. It's been consistently proven that clean hands can prevent the transmission of a wide range of pathogens.
The importance of HH is magnified by the fact that it's a cost-effective intervention. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every dollar invested in hand hygiene can yield a remarkable return of up to sixteen dollars. This compelling statistic underscores the economic and public health benefits of prioritizing hand hygiene. It's a simple yet powerful practice that has the potential to save lives, reduce healthcare costs, and improve overall well-being.
In healthcare settings, restaurants, schools, universities, hotels, and virtually every industry, promoting proper hand hygiene is not just a responsibility but a smart investment in health, safety, and prosperity. At Hygienic Echo Inc., we are dedicated to empowering organizations with smart solutions that make hand hygiene more effective and accessible, ultimately contributing to a safer and healthier world for all.
Why Hand Hygiene Matters
Hand hygiene is one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to prevent the spread of infection. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 7 in every 100 patients in acute-care hospitals in high-income countries—and 15 in every 100 patients in low- and middle-income countries—acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection during their hospital stay. On average, 1 in 10 affected patients dies as a result. *
Recent outbreaks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown how quickly infections can spread in healthcare and other shared environments when infection prevention and control practices are insufficient. The WHO reports that up to 70% of healthcare-associated infections can be prevented through effective hand hygiene and other proven infection prevention measures.
In Canada and the United States alone, healthcare-associated infections are associated with approximately 110,000 deaths each year. * *
These preventable infections can make hospital stays 2.5 times longer, increase costs, contribute to bed and staffing shortages, and place patients, residents, healthcare workers, and visitors at greater risk.
Globally, preventable infections are estimated to create approximately $100 billion in avoidable healthcare costs, placing additional strain on already challenged healthcare systems. Weak infection prevention practices also increase the risk that future outbreaks could spread rapidly and contribute to the next global health crisis.
The importance of hand hygiene extends beyond healthcare. Poor hand hygiene can contribute to infection transmission in retirement residences, schools, universities, restaurants, hotels, workplaces, and other congregate environments. In the United States alone, approximately 48 million foodborne illnesses occur each year, further demonstrating the importance of effective hand hygiene practices across industries. *
Investing in hand hygiene is therefore both a public health priority and a smart financial decision. Effective hand hygiene programs can help save lives, prevent outbreaks, reduce avoidable healthcare costs, and strengthen preparedness for future public health emergencies.
Hygienic Echo Solutions
Built on more than 20 years of hospital-based research and clinical validation, Hygienic Echo is the leader in Electronic Hand Hygiene and infection prevention technology. Founded by Dr. Geoff Fernie and supported by a multidisciplinary team, the company combines scientific expertise with safe, reliable technology designed for real healthcare environments.
Through continuous research, testing, and improvement, Hygienic Echo has developed one of North America’s most advanced Electronic Hand Hygiene systems. Our mission is to make hand hygiene easier to follow, easier to measure, and easier to sustain.
Here are the key benefits of the system.
Improving Hand Hygiene Compliance
Hygienic Echo’s Electronic Hand Hygiene helping reinforce good habits without creating unnecessary interruptions. These real-time prompts and biofeedback help staff naturally integrate hand hygiene into their daily routines.
Improve Hand Hygiene Compliance
Every $1 Invested in Hand Hygiene Can Return Up to $24.6
WHO/OECD modelling shows that every US$1 invested to improve hand hygiene in healthcare facilities can return up to US$24.6 in economic gains through reduced healthcare costs and improved productivity. Hygienic Echo’s Electronic Hand Hygiene system helps organizations support this return by improving compliance, automating audits, and providing actionable data for earlier infection prevention decisions. *
Reducing Healthcare-Associated Infections
Healthcare-associated infections are a major safety risk in hospitals and long-term care. In Canada and the United States alone, approximately 1.9 million HAIs occur each year, with more than 110,000 deaths attributable to HAIs. Hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to reduce this risk. The World Health Organization states that appropriate hand hygiene can prevent up to 50% of avoidable infections acquired during healthcare delivery, while strong infection prevention and control programs, including hand hygiene, can reduce HAIs by up to 70%. Hygienic Echo’s Electronic Hand Hygiene system supports this by prompting hand hygiene at the right moment and helping teams identify gaps through automated auditing. *
Preventing Outbreaks with Earlier Risk Identification
Improving hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to reduce infection transmission and help prevent outbreaks. According to the World Health Organization, hand hygiene improvement strategies have been shown to substantially help stop outbreaks. Hygienic Echo’s Electronic Hand Hygiene system supports this by prompting hand hygiene at the right moment and helping improve compliance. Through detailed software reports, including the Floor Layout/Exposure Risk Report, infection prevention teams can identify high-risk areas, monitor performance by location, and act earlier before risks spread across units, rooms, and congregate spaces. *
Colour-coded Floor Layout/Exposure Risk Report showing hand hygiene performance and exposure risk across rooms and other care areas.
Reducing Infection-Related Emergency Transfers
In long-term care, infections can be a major reason residents are transferred to the emergency department. By improving hand hygiene compliance, supporting earlier infection prevention action, and providing more complete data through automated audits, Hygienic Echo’s Electronic Hand Hygiene system can help reduce infection risk and support efforts to lower avoidable infection-related emergency transfers.
Reducing Length of Stay
Healthcare-associated infections can delay recovery and extend the time patients spend in care. A Journal of Hospital Infection study found that HAI added an estimated 7.8 excess hospital days on average. We estimate that approximately 5,000 fully staffed acute care beds in Canada are occupied by patients with HAIs. By helping reduce infection risk through better hand hygiene compliance, automated auditing, and earlier data-driven action, the Electronic Hand Hygiene system can support efforts to reduce avoidable length of stay. *
