From Robots to AI: The Latest Tech Innovations That Are Keeping Hospitals Clean

Hospitals are expected to conform to the highest standards of cleanliness as all sorts of germs and viruses may lurk on various surfaces, which can pose a threat to human health. However, in a survey of 51 healthcare facilities across 35 nations, 98 percent of hospitals reported that they don't comply with all the standard protocols related to cleaning surfaces in hospital rooms. Only 86 percent said that they regularly monitored their cleaning staff's performance, and 28 percent said that they did not provide their staff with health environmental hygiene (HEH) training. 

Cleaning surfaces is one of the key defenses in the battle against common hospital-acquired infections such as pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and surgical site infection. Adequate staffing and proper HEH training is essential to keep facilities clean, but adopting technology may also be beneficial to thoroughly and efficiently sanitize surfaces and protect patients and healthcare workers from diseases. Here are the latest tech innovations that are keeping hospitals clean and virus-free.

UV Disinfection Robots

A simple cleaning routine that involves mopping, dusting, and waste disposal isn't enough to properly clean a hospital room or an operating room. As a way to comply with cleaning protocols, some healthcare facilities hire trained professionals who specialize in hospital cleaning services since they have the skills, knowledge, and equipment to do deep cleaning operations. While hospital staff are typically in charge of day-to-day surface cleaning and sanitizing, professional cleaners may be tasked to clean areas that need special care, such as emergency rooms and hospital windows. 

Meanwhile, to protect staff from getting infected with serious diseases, tech tools such as UV disinfection robots are being used to sanitize contaminated rooms and hospital equipment. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, these tech innovations were widely used not only in hospitals, but also in airports, care homes, and shopping malls to make the disinfection process faster. UV robots and systems are proven to reduce pathogen population by up to 99.9 percent, which makes them the best tech tools to use in areas with a high risk of infections. There are lots of commercially available UV robots in the market, but companies like RobotLab and Lightstrike have developed UV robots specifically designed to be used in hospitals worldwide for rapid and eco-friendly disinfection.

AI Cleaning Solutions

AI solutions can help staff accomplish various tasks and personalize cleaning protocols based on specific cases. For instance, it can be used to identify prep and surgical areas that will be used for the day, then schedule a thorough cleaning and disinfection before and after surgeries. It may also identify hospital rooms where patients with contagious diseases are confined, then create stricter cleaning protocols for these areas.

More importantly, AI can be utilized to create a comprehensive health environmental hygiene training plan. For instance, it can build a simulation to show the consequences of poor cleaning practices, as well as what could happen if the facility doesn't step up its infection control procedures. AI may even be used to monitor cleaning staff and healthcare professionals for lapses in hygiene. By connecting it to the hospital's CCTV system, it can track handwashing compliance and flag unsafe behaviors, such as improper use of personal protective equipment.

Keeping hospitals clean and properly sanitized can prevent the spread of highly contagious diseases. As more health facilities rely on tech innovations like AI and UV robots, we can look forward to improved healthcare environments and safer hospital stays.