More on VA's Hand Washing Monitor

The Veterans Affairs Department, it turns out, has already installed a high-tech system to make sure its employees wash their hands after using the bathroom. But it's in a hospital, not in a pill processing factory as I reported Monday.

The VA installed a "hand hygiene system" from Xhale Innovations Inc at the Jesse Brown Medical Center in Chicago this March. It uses a sink sensor to check that employees wash their hands.

The sensor then sends an "all clean" signal to a badge worn by the employee, such as a nurse. When the nurse enters a patient's room, another sensor checks the badge and if hands have not been washed, the badge vibrates.

I can understand the need for such a system in hospitals; The New York Times reported this April that unwashed hands are the leading cause of infections in hospitals.

But I have a hard time seeing the need to plan for a "hand washing verification system" at a VA Consolidated Mail Outpatient Pharmacy in Charleston, S.C.