Medical centers are not the greenest of places. Even in the operating room where the greatest care is taken to make a clean environment, too often the contagious bacteria, viruses and even fungus are stubbornly present and contaminate patients under the knife. Today, medical tools are examined, sanitized and counted by hand and by multiple individuals. It’s an ineffective process that carries a risk for error. General Electric is trying to improve surgical tool care in hospitals by taking people out of the formula and letting a robot do the work.
An infection occurs in 1 to 3 surgery patients out of a hundred. While efforts are continuous to reduce surgical site infections, enhanced operating room air flow, enhanced cleanliness methods, the use of antimicrobials are still the most common sort of healthcare-associated infections, accounting for approximately 31 % of infections contracted by hospitalized sufferers. Of the 300,000 people that contract surgical site infections each year, about 3 % will die. And for the 97 % that endures, an infection can increase hospital stays and increase hospital bills by lots of money.
To help fight infections, the research department at General Electric, GE International Research, recently declared their plans to develop an automatic surgical device sterilization procedure. Each medical center has thousands of medical resources that need to be monitored and taken care of on a regular basis. Cleaning and planning them is hard work and requires the synchronization of several medical center workers. Allowing a robot locate, sanitize, sort and provide the medical resources without individual guidance, GE is designed to create a more efficient healthcare system. Automating the device care procedure, the company says, will improve cost performance, not waste time from kit set up mistakes, and improve individual safety in part by reducing medical infections. As opposed to their individual alternatives, a robot will make fewer mistakes while working what can easily become a boring job. In addition, more experienced workers can be released to do other projects. Healthcare-associated infections stay a significant wellness issue. That is why; this type of step is a good one for the healthcare industry.