The iScrub Lite 1.5, a free app released on the iTunes store last Wednesday, allows medical professionals to enter data on hand hygiene compliance, which has typically been accomplished via old-fashioned clipboards and note cards.

Philip Polgreen, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa, where the app was developed, said,

"The long-term goal of our research is to understand hand hygiene behavior and use the feedback to help improve rates. This app can help standardize and streamline how observations are recorded."

According to CNET News, the app enables anyone who cares to monitor hand hygiene to record observational data, e-mail it as an Excel spreadsheet, follow World Health Organization compliance models, and customize data collection to reflect various locations, job roles, and notes.