Axel Llobet is not only a maxillofacial and facial aesthetic surgeon at the Perpignan hospital (Pyrénées-Orientales), he is also an inventor. Aged 33, he has just won, with his partner Vinci René, a gold medal at the Lépine competition. His invention is a device for increasing the frequency of carers washing their hands with hydroalcoholic gel.
“To enter a service, all nursing staff must first p through a secure door with their identification badge. Our innovation, patented, consists in only unlocking the activation of the access badge once the effective page through a validated hydroalcoholic gel distributor. The objective of washing hands more regularly is to reduce the risk of infection.
Full-scale tests in hospitals
“Caregivers know this very well but do not do it a lot, observes Axel Llobet. One out of twenty hospitalized patients leaves the health establishment with a healthcare-related infection, 750,000 people catch a nosocomial illness each year, warns the surgeon. This represents an additional cost of between 3,500 and 8,000 euros per patient! »
For healthcare establishments, this invention called Clean&Go should enable them to improve their hydroalcoholic solution consumption indicator, which is essential for obtaining certification from the High Authority for Health. “Our prototype is now complete and we now need to carry out full-scale tests with five to ten hospitals in 2023 and 2024,” says the young surgeon. A 3% drop in infections would be enough to justify the generalization of the device. As soon as the results of the Lépine competition were announced, we had initial contacts with professionals in the sector. »