According to the Centers for Disease Control, one out of every 20 patients would be on the receiving end of an infection whenever they stay at the hospital. That sounds like a pretty high chance – 5%, to be exact. Well, for a certain hospital over in Fort Worth, the hospital intends to fight this particular issue with an ultraviolet light machine which resembles a droid from the world of science fiction. Over at the Texas Health Resources Southwest Fort Worth, a robot known as Xenex will move around operating rooms on its routine, sending out ultraviolet light in order to kill potentially dangerous microbes.
Kathy Rhodes, the infection prevention co-ordinator, shared, “We put this in the room, close the door and it gives a pulsated ultraviolet light that actually essentially ruptures the bacteria and viruses and kills them on the spot.” The Xenex robot was purchased over a year ago where it came with a $82,000 price tag. The Xenex robot stands at 3 feet in height, where it will raise its round head for approximately two feet as it turns its head 360 degrees while emitting the pulses of UV light, performing what is known as environmental cleaning. Do you think that all hospitals should employ such robots to get the job done?
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