NZ-made AI to help health workers with PPE

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A Kiwi company has created Artificial Intelligence (AI) which helps healthcare workers don and doff (remove and put on) their PPE.

The use of PPE has been a contentious issue as the world, and New Zealand, grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. So, Auckland health tech company Blue Mirror has come up with a way to assist healthcare workers’ when putting on and taking off the vital protective equipment.

Called donning and doffing, current processes as recommended by the World Health Organisation require one healthcare worker to supervise another to ensure the PPE is worn correctly and safely to prevent the risk of contamination. If not worn correctly, PPE will not protect wearers or those who they come into contact with.

“Instead of sitting on our hands we decided we should help the fight against COVID. We did not know how though, so we reached out to many clinicians and nurses and that is how we have learned about the challenges of donning and doffing PPE.” says Blue Mirror CEO, Rommie Nunes.

Rommie, says many frontline workers live in fear of contamination and if they are using a manual buddy system, it can unnecessarily tie up valuable resources as it takes significant time away from workers being able to perform their front-line duties.

Not every hospital can use a manual buddy due to resource constraint and that is a key reason why many healthcare workers have become infected with COVID.

That’s where Blue Mirror comes in, acting as a virtual buddy system using AI to keep patients and healthcare workers safer. The system guides healthcare workers through every step of their donning and doffing processes, spotting errors as they happen.

“By offering virtual donning and doffing assistance, Blue Mirror can train healthcare workers continuously whenever they use PPE with dedicated stations for new staff credentialing,” says Rommie, a Brazilian expat who moved to Auckland in 2013.

Blue Mirror clinician demonstrating the use of the AI product

During lockdown in New Zealand and Australia, many scheduled staff training sessions at hospitals were postponed or cancelled. Blue Mirror has been able to assist these hospitals in training their staff and students, allowing management teams to track the user and understand their progress with a complete audit of the individuals training session.

“Transmission has been prevalent during COVID-19, so Blue Mirror seeks to reduce this risk, while also improving compliance, boosting productivity and reducing staff fatigue and the opportunity for human error. All of which translate to cost savings.”

The product was built by clinicians and is designed to fit into current workflows with easy installation and onboarding, supporting all types of PPE’s.

It is currently being trialed at a number of New Zealand and Australian hospitals.

“There is nowadays lots of press coverage about the risk of AI and how bad it can turn out to be. I believe that mankind has faced this same question many times before and we always do more good than bad with any new technology. Ultimately, I believe AI will do more good than harm and we will solve a lot of issues, but it is up to us, who know how to use it, to apply it in such a way. If AI specialists can be inspired to tackle one small world problem each, we will improve life globally very quickly.”

Blue Mirror clinician demonstrating the use of the AI product 

More information can be found at http://www.bluemirror.ai

Source: Blue Mirror media release, 30 September 2020

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