Authors (including presenting author) :
Li KY, Wong KP, Chan MME, Ng KP, Fok WY, Chow CH, Ho YC
Introduction :
SSU of Hong Kong Children’s Hospital is the first unit to use AGV for transportation of soiled and sterile items to clinical areas in Hong Kong in 2019. Making use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and Wi-Fi network, the system scans a loaded storage cabinet and summons an AGV to come and pick it up.
The AGV will navigate along the pre-set route on its own to clinical areas instead of manual handling by staff. Using AGV for transportation of soiled and sterile items can reduce the risk of cross contamination and also manpower for handling.
Objectives :
(1) To collect soiled items and dispatch sterile items to clinical areas; (2) to reduce the number of transportation trolleys; (3) to reduce the risk of cross contamination by clear demarcation of dirty and clean trolleys; (4) to reduce the transportation time hence reduce manpower; (5) to reduce occupational hazards for porters.
Methodology :
The transportation Cart is a free-standing, multi-configurable mobile cart system. It can efficiently store and delivery of medical consumables/equipment with less manpower.
There are total five robot-liked AGV roam across different floors in the hospital. SSU owned ten SSU trolleys which were compatible to transport by AGV.
The AGV is scheduled to collect soiled items from clinical areas in the morning and it will dispatch sterile items in the afternoon.
Result & Outcome :
The system provides 8-10 times of transportation daily. It provides around 2700 times of transportation per year. The number of transportation will be increased in response to the increased service volume in and opening of new service in clinical areas.
Over 60000 sterile items were dispatched by this system to clinical areas. 1.Reduce manpower
2.Reduce occupational hazards
3.Decrease the trolley turnaround time.
4.Save storage area for the trolleys
5.Reduce the time for searching designated trolley of the floor.
6.Increase the efficiency and accuracy of transportation.
7.Can cope with increased work load and capacity in future development
The AGV system greatly reduce the transportation time and manpower in hospital. The implementation of AGV system could increase the workflow efficiency of SSU and facilitate service expansion in future planning.
