SwipeSense is more than a wearable dispenser. Each time it's used, the device records a click, and users can download daily, weekly or monthly reports. It's a routine familiar to anyone with a FitBit or Nike Fuel Band—part of the popular Quantified Self movement that encourages people to track their behavior to promote positive habit formation.

“The idea is to provide incentives and instigate behavior change through real-time data,” Mr. Iseri says. “Employees can work towards their own goals and improvement.”

SwipeSense charges hospitals $50 per bed for a sensor that tracks each device. It also bills clients $99 a year per user, which covers each sanitizer and access to collected data. The dispensers and sensors, currently manufactured in the U.S., will be made in China starting in January.

Last year, the two won $50,000 in seed money from Healthbox, a Chicago-based incubator funded by companies including Walgreen Co., Sandbox Industries and BlueCross BlueShield's Venture Fund LP. That allowed them to get SwipeSense into two locations, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center. Today SwipeSense has pilot programs with eight facilities from Minnesota to New Jersey and has raised nearly $1.2 million.

Northwestern has been using the devices in its inpatient psychiatry unit, where it doesn't permit wall dispensers to keep patients from harming themselves. “The fact the SwipeSense is portable has allowed us to keep patients safe while also adhering to hand hygiene protocol,” says Larysa Fedoriw, an infection preventionist at Northwestern. “Our nurses and staff are certainly noting that they're using the gel more during the day.”

Messrs. Malina and Iseri feel like they're doing good, fulfilling the mission of Design for America, a Northwestern-based network that encourages colleges students across the country to solve real-world problems through intelligent design—and which they helped launch. “If you're young and smart and American, you don't have to go to Africa to help people,” Mr. Malina says. “There are plenty of problems to solve in your own neighborhood.”

Update — SwipeSense made it to the final round of three in the Wall Street Journal's competition on Oct. 17.