NEW HAVEN, Conn. — In this environment of contagions and community spread, one would not think personal protective equipment, assigned to doctors and nurses, could be reused. But, the Director of Supply Chain, for both Yale-New Haven Health and Yale Medicine, they are on to something.
Of course, one of the big topics surrounding COVID-19 has been the shortage of personal protective equipment, including N-95 respirator masks. But, what if they could be preserved in a sanitary way?
“Difficult times call for creative solutions,” said Dr. Patrick Kenney, Director of Supply Chain, for Yale-New Haven Health and Yale Medicine.
And Yale-New Haven Health and Yale Medicine are working on the preservation of those masks. The first way would be implementing what’s called cluster care.
“If we can have nurses and doctors go into a patient’s room fewer times then they might normally do it, and still provide great care, we are going to do that,” said Kenny.
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Many medical professionals across the country are using the N-95 mask multiple times during the course of the day and then throwing them away. But, that’s not necessary, Dr. Kenney says.
“For that respirator to be an effective filter still exists at the same time they’re getting thrown in the trash,” he said.
So now, in case the supply of masks runs critically low, they are finding ways to re-process and keep these masks in circulation.
“Methods that have been investigated are everything from ultraviolet light to sterilize the respirators,” said Kenney. “Even heat sterilization.”
But, with heat, the masks lose their form and they must remain tight. So, they’ve employed the same process used to fumigate a hospital room.
“The machine is used to create a vapor of hydrogen peroxide throughout the room and it’s incredibly effective at killing pathogens,” Kinney said.
So, the idea was to repurpose this fumigation equipment and fill the room with N-95 masks. And, this process was successful in removing any viruses from the masks. And, earlier testing, using this same sterilization process was promising.
“After 50 reprocessing cycles, which is not something we would plan on doing, but even after 50 cycles the filtration efficiency was intact,” says Kenney.
Encouraging words in a time of such uncertainty.