The first seminar in Clarkson’s SARS-CoV-2 Seminar Series will be presented on Wednesday, April 29, at 3:00 PM via Zoom. Douglas Bohl, PhD, AEMT will present on PPE Issues and Solutions. Please see below to register and for more information!
Register: http://clarkson.imodules.com/s/1680/index.aspx?sid=1680&gid=2&pgid=2813&content_id=2678
PPE Issues and Solutions: Perspectives of a First Responder Engineer
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the dedication and commitment of the nation’s healthcare workers. Doctors, nurses, techs, hospital staff, and first responders are working tirelessly to treat patients, with and without COVID-19, at a time when there are more questions than answers. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) allows frontline workers to perform essential care while mitigating risk both to themselves and to their patients. The COVID crisis has caused a rapid depletion in the PPE stock on hand, competition for new supplies, and widespread emergence of “PPE scams”. The shortage has also enabled a space where creative, collaborative, entrepreneurial solutions have emerged that address the use, reuse of PPE as well as the development of new novel PPE solutions. These solutions come from healthcare workers, first responders, universities, engineers, and “tinkerers” in what could be thought of as a collective brainstorming session fueled by the accessibility of rapid prototyping. As with any brainstorming exercise, not all of these solutions are viable because of either “engineering” reasons or “use” reasons. This talk will address some of the novel solutions that have been developed to overcome PPE shortage from the perspective of an engineer (i.e. someone who develops and analyzes solutions) who is also a first responder (i.e. someone who relies on PPE). The talk will also discuss solutions that are being used locally and the rationale for those choices.
