This article gathers the most common Hand Hygiene questions and the most likely fixes. Each section starts with the symptom you would see, lists the common causes, and points to where to fix the issue.
If your issue isn't here, see If you need more help at the end of this article.
Some symptoms have their own article:
- Troubleshooting: Compliance data looks incomplete or delayed
- Troubleshooting: A dispenser shows an error status
- Troubleshooting: Team Dashboard or the mobile app shows no data
No data appears on the Compliance Analytics page after going live
| What you see | Likely cause | Where to fix |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance shows no data | Configuration is not complete | Manage Room Types & Room Matching |
| Test Mode shows no badge activity | Smart Badges are not linked to staff profiles | Manage Staff & Badges |
| Test Mode shows badge activity but no opportunities | Room Matching is missing or Room Types are misconfigured | Manage Room Types & Room Matching |
If signals reach Test Mode but compliance rates do not appear in Compliance, the issue is almost always in Room Matching or Opportunity Configuration. Walk through the four pieces of Manage Room Types & Room Matching to confirm each one.
Compliance numbers look wrong or unexpectedly low
Common causes:
- A room is mapped to the wrong Room Type. Visits are interpreted against the wrong opportunity logic.
- Staff Type Rules are not set to Utilized > With Patient for the relevant Staff Role and Room Type. Visits do not create opportunities.
- Minimum Visit Duration is set too high. Genuine patient visits are filtered out as too short.
- Valid Wash-In or Wash-Out Period is too short. Dispense events that should count toward compliance fall outside the window.
To investigate, go to Management > All Opportunities, filter to a specific staff member and a recent date range, and check whether the visits you expect appear with the expected wash-in and wash-out times.
Dispense events are not being credited
| What you see | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Dispenses appear in Test Mode or in Total Activations but do not count toward compliance | The dispense event falls outside the Valid Wash-In or Wash-Out Period for the visit |
| A specific dispenser shows no activity | The Dispenser Beacon is offline, or the dispenser is not configured in Hand Hygiene |
| A brand-new Universal Dispenser Beacon shows no activity after install | The Dispenser Beacon is in maintenance mode — it ignores motion for about 30 seconds after mounting, then resumes detecting. A brand-new Dispenser Beacon that never activates at all is usually still unconfigured, in storage mode, until it is set up with Kio Setup Manager. |
Use Settings > Test Mode to confirm dispense events are being detected for the affected dispenser.
Patient room visits are not registering
Common causes:
- The room sensor (Beam Mini or Portal Beam) in that room is offline. Check Device Health.
- The Smart Badge in question is not detected. The badge may have lost signal, have a depleted battery, or not be linked to a staff profile.
- The Room Type for that room is not configured for patient care. Check Room Matching and Room Types.
- The visit was shorter than the Minimum Visit Duration. Adjust the Minimum Visit Duration in Opportunity Configuration if your workflows include shorter visits that should count.
Smart Badge issues
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Badge has no activity | Not linked to a staff profile | Assign the badge to the staff member from the Kio Entity Manager mobile app |
| Badge stopped reporting | Battery depleted or device damaged | Replace the badge using Manage Staff & Badges |
| Badge linked but no opportunities created | Staff Role is not mapped to Utilized > With Patient in the relevant Room Type | Update Staff Type Rules for that role |
Frequently asked questions
Q: How long after we go live should I expect to see data? A: The Compliance Analytics page begins showing data within a few hours of activity once Test Mode confirms signals are flowing. Individual opportunities take longer to settle than you might expect — see Troubleshooting: Compliance data looks incomplete or delayed.
Q: Can I review compliance for an individual staff member? A: Yes. Go to Management > All Opportunities and filter by Staff ID. Hand Hygiene is designed for trend analysis and coaching, not individual disciplinary use.
Q: What happens to a visit that doesn't get a wash-in or a wash-out? A: The opportunity is scored on what did happen. Both washes score 100%, one wash scores 50%, neither scores 0%. A one-sided wash is not lost — it counts as a partial and appears in the Single-wash series of the Compliance Over Time chart. Note that a visit shorter than the Minimum Visit Duration is different again: it never becomes an opportunity at all, so it is not scored and does not appear in any compliance figure. See Hand Hygiene terminology and metrics.
Q: Which compliance rate am I looking at? A: The Compliance Analytics page shows three rates together, and each answers a different question.
- Overall Compliance is the headline rate. An opportunity with both washes counts as 100%, one with a single wash counts as 50%, and one with none counts as 0%, averaged across all opportunities.
- Full: is the share of opportunities with both washes.
- Any: is the share of opportunities with at least one wash.
Overall Compliance is always between Full and Any. Check which rate a figure is before comparing it with another or quoting it in a report. See About compliance.
Q: Does Hand Hygiene capture every staff member who walks through a patient room? A: It captures staff who wear an assigned Smart Badge. Staff without a linked badge do not contribute data.
Q: Can I change the compliance rate calculation? A: Not from the app. What each rate measures is fixed — see Which compliance rate am I looking at?
Two related things you can change:
- The Compliance Thresholds that set the performance zones — Needs Work / Okay / Good — used for the ranking colors and the target line on the Compliance Over Time chart, in the Opportunity Configuration section of the Hand Hygiene Configuration card, on the Settings page.
- How a dispense is credited to an opportunity in the first place, which is the Dispenses Distribution Algorithm. That is requested through Kontakt.io Support rather than changed in the app, and it does move your measured compliance. See About the Dispenses Distribution Algorithm.
If you need more help
If your issue isn't covered here or the suggested fixes don't resolve it, contact Kontakt.io support. When submitting your request, include:
- A brief description of the symptom and when it started.
- The campus, department, and approximate time window the issue affects.
- Whether Test Mode shows the expected signals.
- Any recent configuration changes to Room Matching, Staff Type Rules, or Opportunity Configuration.