Technology
need to be constantly moving from A to B, which involves putting both themselves and the residents at risk of cross-contamination during the cold and flu season. Introducing robots therefore helps to
reduce the level of human contact while freeing up cleaners to perform other crucial tasks.
Although care home robots may still sound like the stuff of science fiction, technological solutions in general have become adopted much more widely in care homes over the past few years. Residential properties that might once have held only manual records are now updating them with digital versions, and staff members have become increasingly adept at new technologies since the pandemic forced them to hold virtual meetings with colleagues and help their residents make Zoom calls to their families.
Acoustic monitoring is also increasingly
being used to detect differences in the levels of noise in a resident’s bedroom, alerting staff members to signs of choking, coughing, getting out of bed, or unusual levels of restlessness. Smart watches and other wearables are
now being used to monitor heart rate, skin temperature, and blood oxygenation levels. They can also be employed to track residents suffering from dementia who might leave the care home and become lost. Artificial intelligence is being employed to identify signs of pain in people who are unable to tell others of their suffering. Systems such as PainChek use a smartphone’s camera to analyse people’s faces and identify signs of pain from facial muscle movements. Sensors and people counters are also increasingly being used in the washrooms to alert cleaning staff to when dispensers are running low or whenever a facility is experiencing particularly high usage. This allows care teams to stay ahead of the game and use a smartphone, tablet, or computer to remotely check on washroom usage.
Training is key Good training is vital to ensure that care home staff and cleaners understand the importance of proper cleaning and hygiene. Our new research reveals that 58 per cent of cleaning staff in care homes say they find it a challenge to follow all the required steps and tasks in cleaning guidelines, while 68 per cent of employees claim they would like to receive better and more interactive training in hand hygiene.
April 2024
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
Online training sessions allow staff to carry out training at a time to suit themselves. We now run two free online training solutions for care home staff: Tork Cleaning Training for Long Term Care Homes, and Tork Clean Hands Training for Long Term Care Homes. The first module has been developed in collaboration with the Association for Healthcare Environment and provides employees with ‘real world’ cleaning scenarios in a safe virtual world. It can be customised to fit with local cleaning guidelines. Tork Clean Hands Training for Long Term
Care Homes equips staff members with the day-to-day skills they require to secure hand hygiene at every moment. It has been developed with leading hygiene experts using the WHO My Four Moments for Hand Hygiene in a residential home environment. The interactive simulation – which has been designed to make hand hygiene learning more inspiring – is available both online and in a virtual reality format. Hospitals are ahead of the curve in terms of using technological solutions to improve efficiencies. For example, a cleaning robot joined the Royal Surrey NHS Trust team in 2021 in a bid to improve quality and consistency. The machine allows human cleaners to concentrate on critical areas for infection transmission such as handrails, door handles, lifts, and doors to wards. Meanwhile, Chloe the floor-cleaning robot has joined the Stoke Mandeville Hospital cleaning team, where its expressive ‘eyes’ and humorous conversation are making it a particular hit on the children’s
ward. In addition, in 2022, Akara’s new decontamination robot was trialled at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to allow for a quicker turnaround of critical rooms after medical procedures had taken place.
It is only a matter of time before
technology – and more specifically, robots – become much more commonplace in the care home. This will be a huge benefit to everyone, as these solutions will help to improve outcomes and free up staff members’ time for more human interactions with residents.
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Liam Mynes
Liam Mynes is healthcare segment manager for Tork at Essity. He has worked in healthcare – both in long and short-term care for over 20 years. Liam and his team work to support improved hygiene outcomes and hand hygiene compliance through training and behavioural change.
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