Sunday, March 29, 2020

Personal Protection Equipment a/k/a PPE

The process of disposing of PPE gear was always thought to be the safest, but what if the gear was re-usable?  My concept would be a suit that could be worn with a small air pack when done with a patient a hospital worker could step into a chamber that would spray them or mist them with a disinfectant and they could move on to next patient more quickly than if they had to change to another set of gear.   The chamber would have a red and green light to let people know when it's safe to step out.  Kind of like getting screened at the airport except now you get disinfected.
The air pack should circulate through the suit to keep the occupant cool or warm as needed. The air packs should be rechargeable on site.  
Each suit could be cleaned on the inside after a shift by inflating it with air containing disinfectant that dries quickly.   Suits could come in various sizes for heights and have adjustable Velcro straps to adjust for the workers size.

The head gear for these suits could come with various communications equipment and lights like space suit.   We have the technology this concept should not be that hard to fabricate.

The cost would be recovered very quickly by not having to throw out PPE outfits and dispose of them.  The time it takes for a hospital worker to change gear is worth money and more importantly lives.  Those of the patient and the hospital workers.  

I don't know what material would be good to make these suits,  I was thinking of something like a divers dry suit but a lighter weight.  

Maybe someone with more technical knowledge than me will  read this and make it work.