"The Xenen LightStrike" Design Summary & Analysis - Draft 1

Students from Case Western Reserve University claimed in the report, "5 Medical Robots..." (2020), that there are several advantages to designing medical robots for use in healthcare. All the robots in this list are currently implemented in hospitals to "improve the quality of care and outcome."

In their specially designed fields, the da Vinci Surgical robot and the CyberKnife both provide the highest precision available. The surgical robot is used for routine surgery by surgeons, while the surgical robot is used to treat tumors in extended areas, especially areas where surgery is complex. The Xenex Germ-Zapping robot is another example of improving "quality." It is intended to disinfect hospital rooms automatically within minutes, effectively killing a wide variety of infectious bacteria in the process.

The other robots in the report, such as the PARO, is an interactive therapeutic robot in a form of an animal, has shown to relieve stress and provide elderly patients with comfort. Finally, the TUG is an autonomous mobile robot that ferries supplies to where they are needed, increasing the productivity of hospital workers.

All robots should be designed to achieve their desired outcome. However, not all medical robots are designed equally to improve the quality of care. The Xenex Germ-Zapping robot is a great example of a robot that improves quality while meeting the demand of the on-going covid pandemic.

In the current covid pandemic situation, hospitals play a crucial role in the healthcare system to provide medical care to patients in need. Medical workers risk their lives every day to care for potential disease-carrying patients. However, patients who are immunocompromised are much more susceptible to bacterial infection. With an increasing number of patients, the need to sterilize rooms and equipment is more frequent. This adds to the physical and mental exhaustion of the medical workers. Thus, there is a need to protect medical workers and minimize patients’ risks from hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) including the coronavirus. 

The company Xenex, specialized in utilizing Xenon light to eliminate pathogens, came up with a solution, “Xenen LightStrike”. The Xenen LightStrike is designed to automatically disinfect HAIs using “pulsed, full-spectrum ultraviolet (UV) rays” lethal to microorganisms, to effectively kill a wide variety of infectious bacteria. On the other hand, a group of researchers from Texas BioMed followed up with a test on the efficacy of the pulsed-xenon ultraviolet (PX-UV) device with UV exposure under several durations. The PX-UV device showed that there was a significant reduction of viral load under longer durations. The researchers concluded that “PX-UV devices are a promising technology to reduce environmental and personal protective equipment bioburden and to enhance both healthcare worker and patient safety”.

Over 500 healthcare facilities across the globe have achieved similar results after implementing the Xenex LightStrike robot. In the report, “Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping… (2020)”, these hospitals have published studies in the “significant reduction in their infection rates” after acquiring the robot.

In a small but rapidly developing country like Singapore, they have taken a step forward in acquiring the robot as an asset to their advanced quality healthcare system. The robot was subjected to multiple before and after cleaning protocols to “validate its efficacy” which lasted eight months since March 2020. Currently, Singapore’s leading general hospital has officially implemented the use of the Xenex LightStrike robots within its hospital.

In conclusion, designing medical robots such as the Xenen LightStrike is not only a great example for improvement to “quality of care and outcome”, but it also serves a far greater purpose to the society especially during this crucial time of the pandemic.

 

References:
Case School of Engineering/Case Western Reserve University (2020, December 28). 5 Medical Robots Making a Difference. Retrieved from https://online-engineering.case.edu/blog/medical-robots-making-a-difference.
Simmons, S., Carrion, R., Alfson, K., Staples, H., Jinadatha, C., Jarvis, W., . . . Stibich, M. (2020, August 3). Deactivation of SARS-CoV-2 with pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light: Implications for environmental COVID-19 control. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 1-4. http://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.399
BioSpectrumAsia (2020, May 29). Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots deactivate SARS-CoV-2. Retried from https://www.biospectrumasia.com/news/27/16026/xenex-lightstrike-germ-zapping-robots-deactivate-sars-cov-2-.html.