Technology: Clean your hands
 When the Credit Valley Hospital (CVH) was commissioned in 1985, drinking fountains were not viewed as a threatening source of communicable diseases. However, faced with growing concerns after an outbreak of C. difficile in an Ontario hospital, CVH needed to pursue new infection control measures.
Farrow Partnership Architects (FPA) saw that CVH’s drinking fountains, which had been decommissioned but still had an existing built-in source of water, could be converted into hand washing units as a positive force for infection control.
Together with CVH, FPA developed fi fteen hand washing units in the corridor of an inpatient care area over a one month period in 2008. Working with WilsonArt to develop the prototype, and in the absence of any government performance guidelines, specifications or industry standards, the handwashing units were designed to meet the following criteria:
- Convenience and ease of use
- Minimal spread of contaminated water: deep basin reduces splashing of soiled water
- Minimal amount of physical contact: faucet with hands-free operation
- Rapid prototyping: off-the-shelf components used to reduce implementation time (e.g. paper towel dispenser and disposal)
- Ease of installation: developed a self-contained unit installed into new or existing plumbing
- Warm and inviting materials: selected solid surface material over stainless steel
- Supportive of maintenance programs: use of solid surface material conducive to low maintenance
www.farrowpartnership.com
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