Decontamination robots have been trialled at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Hospital rooms need to be left vacant for several hours after certain medical procedures, but the Akara robot is said to be able to reduce this period of downtime to 10 minutes, allowing more procedures to be carried out.
Meanwhile, sensor technology is playing an increasingly important part in healthcare cleaning. This can be used to monitor footfall in healthcare washrooms and other areas, and inform cleaning teams when an extra service check might be required. This technology can also be used to alert teams to spillages so that action can be taken before they become a safety hazard.
Hand hygiene is extremely important for all staff members, patients and visitors, so sensor technology is further being used to ensure that hospital washrooms are kept well stocked with essential products such as soap and paper.
Tork Vision Cleaning uses people-counters and connected dispensers to provide real-time data on cleaning requirements. This allows healthcare teams to stay ahead of the game and use a smartphone, tablet or computer to remotely check on which dispensers are running low, and which washroom cubicles are receiving high levels of traffic.
Good training is vital to ensure that healthcare workers and cleaners understand the importance of proper cleaning and hygiene, and here again technology plays an important role.
Essity offers a number of remote training modules for healthcare workers. Tork Clean Hands Training invites users into a digital world where they are confronted with a series of scenarios in which hand hygiene needs to be carried out.
Trainees take on the role of a nurse, carer or doctor in a hospital or care home where they’re tasked with caring for several patients. The trainee’s results are assessed on how far they comply with the World Health Organization’s 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene. Tork Clean Hands Training is also available as virtual reality apps.
www.tomorrowscleaning.com
Surface cleaning is also vitally important in any healthcare setting, but cleaners need to be taught how to sanitise all patient areas in the most logical and hygienic way possible.
Essity’s Tork Interactive Clean Hospital Training takes staff through various real-world cleaning scenarios in a virtual hospital. It incorporates modules on daily cleaning in occupied patient rooms as well as discharge cleaning protocols, and a module is also available for care homes.
The rise of technological solutions is gathering pace, and new healthcare breakthroughs are occurring all the time. Scientists have now come up with a ‘smart pill’ that records when the patient has taken it, for instance.
Each pill contains a tiny sensor that sends information when ingested to a patch worn by the patient. This is then sent to a smartphone, enabling doctors or carers to ensure that the right dose is being administered at the right time. This solution is said to be particularly useful for patients who are forgetful or suffering from a mental condition.
Meanwhile, researchers from the University of California have come up with a device that diffuses disinfectants into a breathable mist. The equipment atomises disinfectants such as triethylene glycol so that these are dispersed into the air and pathogens in the atmosphere are destroyed.
A ‘mixed reality’ device in the form of a hologram is being used to train student medics in Australia and New Zealand. Students are able to walk around the HoloPatient, checking its vital signs and listening to its breathing before making a diagnosis.
Technology is proving to be a massive aid in the healthcare sector – and this is only the beginning. Over the next decade and beyond, it's likely to go from strength to strength as it continues to enhance efficiency, reduce infection risks and free up staff members for those key tasks that are better suited to humans.
www.tork.co.uk/cleancarehealthcare TOMORROW'S CLEANING | 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70
