PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Sterilization of medical instruments is a complex task because of legal prescriptions and many regulatory specifications. Complicated instruments must be correctly disassembled and loaded on a rack before they can be automatically processed in a cleaning and disinfection machine. This paper proposes an assistive system helping workers to avoid fatal errors during reprocessing. The system provides disassembly instructions and important information for the reprocessing of medical instruments to attract the worker’s attention to critical issues. Continuous improvements and context-sensitive instructions are integrated by the use of business process models, a tabletop projection system with a gestural interface and radio-frequency identification (RFID) for instrument tracking. The user interface adapts to the criticality levels of instruments, which are continuously gathered and updated from the quality management of a sterilization department.