A New Approach to Improving Hand Hygiene Compliance at the Navarra Clinic with MEG

At the Navarra Clinic, patient safety is a top priority. Like many healthcare facilities, hand hygiene is essential to reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)—a persistent challenge in the sector. In 2024, at the 2nd International Electronic Conference on Clinical Medicine, Blanca Rodríguez shared how the clinic began implementing MEG, a tool that is helping them measure hand hygiene adherence more effectively, a critical factor in infection prevention.

Why is Hand Hygiene So Important?

HAIs are a serious issue in any healthcare system, and in Spain, they are estimated to cause around 6,000 deaths annually. They also represent a significant cost, nearing 2 billion euros. However, according to a systematic review by Mouajou et al. (2022), suggests that up to half of these infections could be prevented with proper hand hygiene, especially during five critical moments:

1. Before touching the patient.

2. Before performing aseptic procedures.

3. After exposure to bodily fluids.

4. After touching the patient.

5. After contact with the patient’s surroundings.

5 moments for hand hygiene - WHO

Implementing MEG: A Support in Data Collection

Hand hygiene monitoring at the Navarra Clinic combines direct observation with the MEG tool, providing a comprehensive approach to data collection. With MEG, the clinic can effectively track all five hand hygiene moments and record additional details, such as the type of hygiene performed (alcohol-based solution, soap and water, or none) and the duration of handwashing, ensuring it meets the recommended time.

Transforming the Process with MEG

Before MEG: Hand hygiene monitoring was based on manual observation, which, while useful, offered limited insights due to smaller sample sizes.

After MEG: With MEG, the clinic has completely transformed its monitoring process. They can now track all five key hand hygiene moments and collect detailed data, including the type of hygiene performed (alcohol-based solution, soap and water, or none) and the duration of handwashing (more or less than 20 seconds).

Since implementing MEG, the clinic has seen a remarkable increase in the number of observations. This significant growth in both the quantity and quality of data has provided a clearer understanding of average adherence. It has also enabled the clinic to tailor hygiene protocols to address specific needs more effectively.

As a result, the clinic now benefits from a more accurate and actionable view of hand hygiene adherence, driving meaningful improvements in their practices.

Hand Hygiene Audit Form (example only)

“It has been a pleasure to share the impact that using MEG has had in improving hand hygiene adherence at CUN. You can’t improve what you don’t know, and you can’t know what you don’t measure. Tools like MEG are essential for preventive medicine.”

-Blanca Rodriguez, Nurse in Preventive Medicine at Clinica Universitaria de Navarra

Enhanced Insights

Since adopting MEG, the clinic has seen a remarkable increase in the volume and quality of observations. This larger dataset has provided a clearer understanding of adherence rates and allowed the clinic to customise hygiene protocols to address specific areas for improvement. By minimising biases and collecting more statistically reliable data, the clinic now has actionable insights to enhance patient safety.

Advantages of using an electronic tool

Using an electronic tool for hand hygiene (HH) offers several advantages. It provides immediate reports sent directly to your email, ensuring quick access to up-to-date data. The tool allows for customised reports by date, area, profession, and hygiene moment, making it easier to track and analyse HH practices. It helps identify failures and target areas for improvement. Additionally, observations aren't limited to just IPC nurses, broadening the scope of data collection. Reports are easily accessible on the intranet, and monthly reports are shared in common areas to provide valuable feedback to staff.

1. Instant Reporting: Access up-to-date data immediately via email.

2. Custom Reports: Filter information by date, area, profession, or specific moments. Identify improvement opportunities and implement targeted corrective measures

3. Use of quality management system: Implementation of a set of standardised processes, policies, and tools designed to ensure that the hospital consistently meets regulatory requirements. Helps improve efficiency, manage risks, monitor performance, and drive continuous improvement across all operations.

4. Enhances Hand Hygiene Compliance: Ensures that healthcare staff consistently follow hand hygiene protocols by providing real-time monitoring, automated reminders, and data-driven insights to improve adherence to infection control standards.

5. Intranet Access: Reports are accessible to all relevant staff members.

6. Team Feedback: Monthly summaries are shared in common areas to engage staff and promote transparency. Observations can be done by trained professionals, not just IPC nurses.

Key Takeaways

• Hand hygiene is essential to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

• Regular auditing is crucial for patient safety and effective improvement measures.

• Benefits of electronic tools:

• Enhance data collection.

• Provide immediate feedback.

• Save time for IPC teams.

• Empower more professionals to collect data.

• Offer a clearer picture of real adherence rates.

Efficient tools lead to actionable insights, fostering a culture of safety and improvement in healthcare.

Looking Ahead

While there’s still room for progress, the integration of MEG at the Navarra Clinic has already provided valuable insights to refine their hand hygiene practices. With more detailed data, the team can continue adapting protocols and training programs to meet their safety goals.

Blanca Rodríguez, Nurse in Preventive Medicine at Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, mentioned in her presentation that:

“Implementing an electronic tool like MEG can be a great alternative for those seeking a more realistic and accurate approach to infection prevention.”

Transform Your Hand Hygiene Audits with MEG

MEG's Hand hygiene audit tool has empowered different clients to efficiently gather and analyse audit data directly on any device. This streamlined process has significantly reduced the time spent on manual tasks, allowing the team to focus more on enhancing audit quality and driving impactful improvements.

👉 Contact us today to learn more!

Digitalisation and Patient Safety: A New Era

In healthcare, patient safety is a fundamental priority, and digitalisation is creating a turning point in how it is managed. Today, three key tools stand out as pillars in the identification and mitigation of adverse events: voluntary reporting, risk registers, and Global Trigger Tools (GTT).

In this blog, we explore the specificity and sensitivity of each tool, the transformative role of GTT, and how digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) are revolutionising their use.

How This Benefits Hospitals and Healthcare Workers?

Implementing digital tools like Global Trigger Tools (GTT) enhanced with AI doesn’t just improve patient safety; it directly supports healthcare workers and streamlines hospital operations. These advancements empower frontline staff by reducing the administrative burden of manual reporting, allowing them to focus on what matters most: patient care. AI-powered systems detect risks in real-time, minimising human error and creating actionable insights that help healthcare teams address issues proactively.

For hospitals, this means a more resilient patient safety culture, faster responses to emerging risks, and enhanced compliance with international standards. The result? Safer environments for patients, more efficient workflows for staff, and an overall improvement in healthcare quality and outcomes. By embracing digitalisation, hospitals and healthcare workers can confidently move toward a future of smarter, safer care.

The Triad in Action: Voluntary Reporting, Risk Register, and GTT

Voluntary Reporting: A Frontline Perspective

• Specificity: Highly specific since reported events often have a direct impact on care.

• Sensitivity: Limited, as it relies on staff willingness to report, leaving some incidents undetected.

Risk Register: Mapping Potential Hazards

• Specificity: Moderate, focusing on risks identified during audits and analyses.

• Sensitivity: High for structural or systemic issues but may be less reactive to isolated events.

Global Trigger Tools: Detecting the Invisible

• Specificity and Sensitivity: Combines the best of both worlds by identifying specific "triggers" that alert to potential adverse events, even those not voluntarily reported.

Why Are GTT the Future?

GTT doesn’t rely on human memory or perception but on objective, data-driven analyses. It detects patterns, identifies areas for improvement, and provides insights that other tools might overlook.

The Technological Revolution: Digitalisation and AI Automation

Digitalising forms and incorporating AI are taking GTT to the next level:

• Smart Digital Forms: Capture data more precisely and consistently, reducing human error.

• AI in GTT: Processes large volumes of data in real-time, detecting triggers faster and more accurately. This not only accelerates the detection of adverse events but also optimises the organisational learning process.

Key Benefits:

• Earlier risk detection.

• Increased sensitivity and specificity in identifying events.

• Faster and more effective corrective actions.

Conclusion

Digitalisation is not only modernising adverse event management but also transforming how we understand and prevent risks in healthcare. Adopting tools like GTT and enhancing them with AI is a crucial step toward safer and more efficient care.

Discover how this technology improves adverse event management.

Honduras Medical Center Teams Up with MEG to Streamline Healthcare Quality Managemen

We’re thrilled to welcome Honduras Medical Center to the MEG family!

Recognizing the Need for Improvement

Located in the vibrant city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras Medical Center has been a beacon of healthcare excellence since 2003. With a dedicated team of 154 in-house specialists and 293 accredited external physicians, the hospital provides a wide array of services, including emergency care, maternity services, outpatient surgery, and intensive care. Its unwavering commitment to patient care has earned it a well-deserved reputation as one of the leading healthcare institutions in Honduras and Central America.

Addressing the Need for Change

As with many healthcare facilities, Honduras Medical Center faced challenges with outdated manual quality management processes. The inefficiencies of handling data collection, monitoring, and analysis manually were eating up valuable time and resources. Recognizing the need for a modern solution, the hospital set out to find a system that could:

• Streamline routine tasks and optimize resource use

• Be simple, intuitive, and adaptable to their specific needs

• Integrate seamlessly with their existing systems, backed by strong technical support

Why They Chose MEG

It was during the Patient Safety and Quality Congress that MEG’s LATAM Business Development Manager, Mauricio Petri, introduced the hospital to MEG’s powerful suite of tools. After a thorough evaluation, the hospital chose MEG for its:

• Easy-to-use, intuitive interface

• Customization to fit the hospital’s unique workflows

• Automation to handle repetitive tasks with ease

• Dedicated support team to ensure success at every step

The MEG Modules That Made It Happen

The hospital’s digital transformation took off with the implementation of three key MEG modules:

• Audit & Inspection Software

• Incident Reporting Software

• Document Management software

What’s Changed So Far?

The results so far have been impressive. By streamlining their processes, these tools have already boosted operational efficiency, allowing the medical staff to focus more on what truly matters—providing top-notch care for their patients. MEG is helping Honduras Medical Center optimize its quality management processes, freeing up time and resources to drive strategic initiatives and enhance patient safety.

Looking Ahead Together

This collaboration is more than just the adoption of new software—it's a partnership built on shared values of innovation and a relentless pursuit of improvement in patient safety and quality management.

To learn more about MEG and how we can help your organization, visit MEG website or get in touch with us directly.

MEG Celebrates Win in the Deloitte 2024 Technology Fast 50 Awards

Mark O’Reilly, Edel Churchill, Kerrill Thornhill, Leonora O’Brien and Helga Morrow from the MEG team at the Deloitte 2024 Technology Fast 50 Awards

MEG, a leading provider of healthcare quality, patient safety, and compliance software, attributes its growth to the dedication and talent of its team, along with its focus on innovation in healthcare technology.

Dublin, Ireland, 29 November 2024 — MEG today announced it has been ranked 24th in the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards, a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in Ireland. Rankings are based on average percentage revenue growth over four years.

MEG’s CEO, Kerrill Thornhill, credits the company’s remarkable growth to its team's creativity, drive, and close collaboration with customers to continually improve MEG’s platform. He said, "This achievement is a testament to the unwavering dedication and hard work of our entire team. Being recognised among Ireland’s fastest-growing companies is an acknowledgement of our overall success, but also of the meaningful impact we are making in the healthcare sector, helping to improve patient safety and save significant time for frontline staff by reducing manual administrative tasks. We are incredibly proud of our journey and are excited for what’s ahead."

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards is one of Ireland’s foremost technology award programmes. It is a ranking of the country's 50 fastest-growing technology companies based on revenue growth over four years, and this year marks 25 years of the programme celebrating innovation and entrepreneurship in Ireland’s indigenous technology sector.

Cumulatively, the 2024 Fast 50 winners generated €1.4 billion in total annual revenues and now employ over 6,200 people. The average revenue of companies featured in the ranking was approximately €28 million, while the average growth rate of the companies over the last four years was 572%. The awards programme also saw 11 new entrants appearing on the ranking for the first time. The companies ranked identified finding, hiring, and retaining top talent and international expansion as two of the biggest challenges they face in trying to grow their business.

Announcing the winners of the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 programme, James Toomey, Partner and Fast 50 lead at Deloitte, said: “While Ireland has solidified its reputation as a global hub for technological excellence, the true highlight has been the remarkable growth of homegrown tech talent. Over the past 25 years, the Fast 50 programme has been at the heart of this story, championing the innovation and ambition of indigenous tech companies in Ireland. The Fast 50 rankings are a badge of honour, offering trusted recognition based on four years of revenue growth. This credibility distinguishes the programme and not only identifies the tech leaders of tomorrow but signals their readiness to scale globally. Congratulations to all the companies and individuals whose hard work and innovation have earned them a well-deserved place on this year's Fast 50 ranking—your achievements set the standard for excellence in tech.

About MEG

MEG is a digital quality management system for healthcare. Its suite of configurable mobile and cloud-based tools enables providers to engage staff in quality improvement, patient safety, and manage compliance with accreditation or regulatory standards. The easy-to-use modules can be used by frontline workers on any device to collect data from all over an organisation. They can capture incidents, conduct audits, risk assessments, feedback surveys, and access documents and information anytime at the point of care. Management can collate, analyse and act upon real-time information and metrics across multiple sites, consolidating data into a centralised platform. MEG operates in more than 20 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Australasia, and Latin America and offers multilingual support.

Advancing Patient Safety Through Digital Transformation: The University Clinic of Navarra’s Journey with MEG

Paulina & Mauricio from the MEG team at the SECA Conference

At the recent SECA Conference in Gran Canaria—an annual event dedicated to advancing healthcare quality, safety, and efficiency through knowledge sharing and innovation—the University Clinic of Navarra in Spain shared an inspiring story. Their focus was on patient safety and quality management innovation. Faced with the challenges of conducting thorough internal audits while maintaining high standards of patient care, the clinic turned to MEG—a digital platform specialising in healthcare quality and safety management—to overhaul its approach.

In a presentation led by Mauricio Petri, a healthcare quality expert at MEG, and Juana Labiano, Director of Quality Service at the clinic, the audience learned how digital transformation can fundamentally reshape safety practices in healthcare. The clinic's adoption of MEG allowed for streamlined audit processes, real-time insights, and the reinforcement of a culture centred on safety and continuous improvement.

Here's a closer look at their transformative journey and how MEG became a key ally in enhancing patient safety through smarter audits.

The Challenge: Traditional Audit Methods Limiting Efficiency

Before implementing MEG, the University Clinic of Navarra used Google Drive-based questionnaires to collect audit data. This method, though functional, required intensive manual effort and resulted in significant delays. Preparing reports took up to 37 hours per audit, with summaries sent out only twice a year—in June and December. This delay meant that insights from audits often weren’t available until months after data collection, limiting the clinic's ability to act on real-time issues. It was clear that a faster, more efficient system was needed.

The Solution: MEG’s Real-Time Digital Transformation

MEG, launched in 2016, is a cloud-based healthcare quality, risk and compliance platform with a strong presence in over 22 countries and multi-language support. Designed to assist quality and safety programs in hospitals, MEG was the perfect solution for the University Clinic of Navarra’s audit transformation. Mauricio explains:

“The pandemic highlighted the need for digital transformation, especially in patient safety areas. MEG’s ecosystem supports healthcare providers in transitioning to faster, more accurate audit processes.”

When the clinic partnered with MEG, they began the transition by restructuring their audit questionnaires and automating report generation, which helped cut report preparation time from 37 hours to just 7—an impressive 80% reduction. This shift allowed the team to conduct audits more frequently, contributing directly to a stronger focus on patient safety and quality of care.

Digital Audit Form (example only)

Key Benefits of MEG in Action

MEG brought three significant benefits to the clinic's auditing process:

• Time Efficiency: The drastic reduction in report preparation time allowed the quality team to shift focus to other high-value activities and perform more audits annually.

• Visual and Concise Reporting: MEG’s reports use intuitive “RAG” colour coding (red, amber, green) to show compliance levels, enabling healthcare professionals to identify performance areas at a glance.

• Real-Time Feedback: With MEG, reports can now be sent out almost immediately after audits, keeping insights fresh and relevant for healthcare teams.

Juana, the Director of Quality Service at the University Clinic of Navarra, shares the impact:

“What used to take us 37 hours now takes just 7, which represents an 80% reduction in preparation time. This means we can deliver feedback almost immediately, keeping our safety culture active and engaged.”

Real-World Impact: Hand Hygiene and Beyond

One of the clinic’s key focus areas is hand hygiene, critical in preventing infection. With MEG, audit reports now visually display hand hygiene compliance across departments and by professional category, pinpointing areas for improvement. The colour-coded reports allow healthcare workers to quickly understand where standards are met and where immediate action is needed.

“Instead of waiting six months, we can now send reports at the right time, ensuring the feedback is relevant and actionable,” Juana adds.

Sample ‘Hand Hygiene’ audit report using MEG’s colour-coded format for clear visual representation.

Building a Culture of Safety

Beyond technical improvements, MEG has enhanced the clinic’s safety culture by ensuring that all staff, from frontline workers to administration, are aware of their role in patient safety. Real-time reports and immediate feedback keeps patient safety at the forefront of daily operations. According to Juana:

“MEG has not only made our audits more efficient but has strengthened our organisation’s commitment to a culture of safety.”

Conclusion: A Step Forward in Patient Safety and Quality Care

With MEG, the University Clinic of Navarra has taken a significant step toward digital transformation in patient safety, optimising time and resources while continuing to promote a safe and high-quality environment for all. By optimising time and resources, MEG allows healthcare professionals to focus on what truly matters—providing a safe and high-quality environment for patients.

80% Time-Saving on Audit Preparation

With MEG’s automated report generation, the clinic reduced report preparation time from 37 hours to just 7 hours—a remarkable 80% time savings. This efficiency allows the quality team to reallocate valuable time toward other essential quality improvement activities, fostering a more agile and responsive audit system.

Increased Audit Frequency with Automated Scheduling

Automated scheduling and faster report turnaround allow the clinic to conduct audits more frequently, moving from a biannual to a more regular schedule. This increased frequency enables the clinic to monitor compliance continuously, catching and addressing potential safety issues before they escalate.

Enhanced Safety Culture Across the Organisation

Real-time feedback from MEG keeps audit results fresh and actionable, empowering staff to immediately see areas of strength and improvement. This approach has deepened the clinic’s commitment to a safety-first culture, where all team members—from frontline workers to management—are more aware and engaged in upholding patient safety standards daily.

As healthcare continues to evolve, digital tools like MEG provide essential support in meeting the growing demands of patient safety and quality care, paving the way for a more efficient, responsive, and proactive healthcare system.