For doctors and nurses caring for people with Ebola, a challenging but critical aspect of avoiding contamination is putting on and taking off protective gear. Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is one area that could use some creative thinking and design improvements.USAID and partners have launched Fighting Ebola: A Grand Challenge for Development to help healthcare workers on the front lines provide better care and stop the spread of Ebola. The program has two parts: 1) OpenIDEO Challenge (an open innovation platform) and 2) the Challenge Grant (a funding platform). The Challenge is a fast-paced effort to make a difference quickly. The Challenge Grant is $5,000,000 set aside to fund prototypes. The Maker movement has jumped into this space with some ideas about how PPE can become safer and more user friendly.
Make – a magazine that highlights do-it-yourself projects – has published several Makers Against Ebola ideas.
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The first layer is body cloth cover, followed by Tyvek, followed by Tychem where each progressive layer breathes less, is less permeable. Layers of gloves are also put on in a specific sequence. Lastly, to protect the mucus membranes located in the eyes, nose and mouth healthcare workers dawn head covers such as hoods, duckbill masks and goggles. Getting the sequence right is important to being protected; even more important is taking the PPE off properly as that’s when a slip-up poses the risk of infection.
Turns out there could be an answer to not only making this process safer, but also making it easier on those who need to be near a patient with Ebola. Large zipper tabs could do the trick. Brian Russell decided that making the PPE’s zipper tab larger would facilitate safe disrobing and he developed it as part of this larger project.
One strap is attached to the PPE collar while another is attached to the zipper tab extender. The first strap secures the collar while the second strap pulls to unzip the PPE. Opening the suit safely is a critical first step to releasing body heat build-up and beginning the recovery period.
There is no better time than now that to focus on innovative ways we can keep people safe, and the zipper extender is one way to do that. Over 700 people are collaborating on solutions to help healthcare workers. The OpenIDO team is open to other innovative approaches to tackling this issue. Here’s what the group has to say about Ebola gear ideas and production:
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First, ideas should have the potential for significant impact within a short time frame – we want to get ideas to the field in a matter of months! Second, ideas should be low cost and easy to produce. And third, ideas should be simple to deploy and adopt – keep in mind the infrastructure limitations as well as our human center design principles.
