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The effect of autonomous mobile robots on improving endoscope reprocessing efficiency: a prospective comparative
Yuqing Shi1, Jianrong Bai1, Meiling Zhou1
1Department of Gastroenterology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China; Shandong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Digestive Disease, Jinan, Shandong, China; Laboratory of Translational Gastroenterology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China; Robot Engineering Laboratory for Precise Diagnosis and Therapy of GI Tumor, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Background And Aims:
Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have an increasingly wide range of medical applications. However, their use in endoscopy centers remains underdeveloped. This study evaluated the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of AMR-assisted endoscope delivery.
Methods:
This was a single-center, prospective, comparative trial. An autonomous mobile robot system was built to distribute and retrieve endoscopes. In a 5-day week, 1 day was randomly selected for manual transportation, whereas the remaining 4 days used robotic transportation, between May 21 and November 21, 2024. The primary outcome was the manpower saved, measured by full-time equivalent. Secondary outcomes included endoscope distribution and retrieval time, adverse event rate, cost-effectiveness, and nurses' perceptions of work intensity and job satisfaction.
Results:
A total of 5393 manual and 21,048 AMR-assisted endoscope deliveries in outpatient endoscope rooms were included in the study. The implementation of 8 AMRs reduced endoscope transport workload by 2.18 full-time equivalent. The mean distribution time (112.07 ± 33.19 seconds vs 168.48 ± 69.40 seconds; P < .001) and retrieval time (69.96 ± 21.08 seconds vs 91.32 ± 24.89 seconds; P < .001) was significantly shorter in the AMR-assisted group compared with the manual-delivery group. The delivery failure rate in the AMR-assisted group was 0.15%, and no unsuccessful delivery occurred in the manual group. The return on investment (ROI) for the robotic system is approximately 12.8%. Nurses reported lower work intensity and higher satisfaction with the use of AMRs.
Conclusions:
AMR-assisted endoscope delivery has advantages over manual delivery in efficiency improvement, offering a novel solution for the management of endoscopy centers.
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