The failure of hand disinfection prior to surgical operations is considered to be
the leading cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. It contributes to the spread
of multi-resistant pathogens and is recognized having an important role in the development
of post-operative complications. To reduce this cause, we developed a compact, mobile
device to support surgeons with the objective evaluation of hand disinfection. The
hardware consists of a metal box with matte black interior with ultra-violet lighting
and a digital camera. Image processing and segmentation is performed on a regular
notebook. After the hand washing procedure, the surgeons spread UV-reflective powder
on their hands, showing bright under UV light only on sterile surfaces. When the surgeon
inserts its hands into the box, the camera placed on the top takes an image of the
hand for evaluation. The software performs the segmentation and clustering automatically.
First, the hand contour is determined from the intensity image, than two clusters
are built using a threshold value, derived based on the average intensity of the region
of interest. If the affected area is significant, the system warns the surgeons to
wash their hands again. The main advantage of our device is the ability to obtain
objective result on the quality of hand disinfection. It may find its best use in
the clinical education and training.
