458. Using a Humanoid Robot to Improve Hand Hygiene Compliance

BACKGROUND: in a similar way that the Aedes aegypt mosquito is a vector for diseases as dengue fever, and zika, healthcare workers can be vectors for hospital infections! Despite the fact that handwashing is the single most effective measure to prevent the transmission of disease, make handwashing a habit among healthcare workers remains a major challenge. Here we investigated whether or not it is possible to adapt a toy robot as a tool for continuous education of healthcare workers in the context of hand hygiene compliance. The objective was to answer two questions: (a) How to adapt a robot as MeccaNoid G15KS to be an instrument of health training and continuous education of healthcare workers? (b) What is the effectiveness of the use of a humanoid robot on the compliance with hand hygiene? METHODS: we got to adapt a toy programmable robot named Ozires, as an instrument of health training to improve the compliance with hand hygiene. The robot was adapted with mini projector, spy camera, an automatic alcohol hand sanitizer dispenser, a cell phone and a cell phone support and an audio amplifier. Ozires, accompanied by infection control practitioners, performs short video-lecture presentations and own reports of the institution’s data regarding infections and the hand hygiene rate, working from 10 to 15 minutes in each target sector. RESULTS: After the insertion of Ozires in three ICUs, hand hygiene rate increased from about 36%, between January and July, to 65% in August–November 2016. In all months of 2017, consumption of alcohol preparation remained above 20 mL/patient-day, the minimum expected consumption recommended by the World Health Organization. CONCLUSION: We succeeded in adapting a toy robot as instrument of continuous education of healthcare workers, creating a new education tool, the robot tutor. Hand hygiene compliance raised significantly after the intervention. We also achieved a consumption of alcohol preparation rate above the minimum expected rate by WHO, sustained and durable. With the continuing education approach based on Ozires, it is not necessary to withdraw healthcare workers from their work area, which can be a novel education strategy, more interactive, that can really personalize health education. DISCLOSURES: All authors: No reported disclosures.