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The design and manufacture of 3D‐printed adjuncts for powered air‐purifying respirators
Author(s) -
Miles L. F.,
Chuen J.,
Edwards L.,
Hohmann J. D.,
Williams R.,
Peyton P.,
Grayden D. B.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
anaesthesia reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2637-3726
DOI - 10.1002/anr3.12055
Subject(s) - respirator , bespoke , covid-19 , guard (computer science) , airflow , medicine , engineering , computer science , business , materials science , mechanical engineering , composite material , disease , pathology , advertising , infectious disease (medical specialty) , programming language
Summary Spurred in part by literature published in the immediate aftermath of the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in 2003, powered air‐purifying respirators have seen increased use worldwide during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Whereas these devices provide excellent protection of the user, there is an added element of risk during doffing and cleaning of the device. An additional layer of barrier protection, in the form of a polypropylene gown, to be worn over the hood and motor belt, can be used to minimise this risk. However, the device entrains air perpendicular to the lie of the gown, resulting in the impermeable material being sucked into the air intake, and partial occlusion of flow. In this report, we describe a clinical‐academic partnership whereby a bespoke filter guard was designed to disrupt airflow and prevent gown entrainment, thereby enabling full barrier protection of both the device and user. This intervention was simple, cheap, scalable and able to be mass produced.