Transcript medical barrier fabric

AATCC Midwest Section Spring Meeting
April 16, 2004
Reusable Protective Healthcare
Textiles
Presented by:
Ash Garg, Product Management Group, Standard Textile Co., Inc.
Hazards in a Healthcare Environment
• Bloodborne Pathogens
• Other pathogenic microorganisms present in
body fluids
• Irritants
Protective Textiles
• Prevent the penetration of microorganisms,
fluids, or particulates through a fabric.
• Prime requirement to avoid penetration of
liquids to the skin is that the blood or other
contaminated body fluids not strike through
the protective garment
Hydrostatic Resistance
• A measurement of the relative ability of a
given fabric to withstand pressure; infers
liquid resistance
• Typically tested on a Suter apparatus, which
creates pressure by an increasing vertical
column of water
Hydrostatic Pressure Test
• It measures the penetration of liquids under
steadily increasing pressure. The test consists of
mounting a test sample of clothing under an
orifice of a conical well in the tester and
subjecting it to water pressure increasing at a
constant rate until three points of leakage appear
on its under surface. The hydrostatic head pressure
at the moment of penetration measured in
centimeters is reported.
Suter Equipment for Hydrostatic
Resistance Measurement
Impact Penetration Test
• The impact penetration test is used to determine
the penetration of liquids upon impact (e.g., splash
by a liquid during a surgical procedure). In this
test, an AATCC Impact Penetration Tester is used
with blotter paper. The blotter paper is weighed on
an analytical balance and placed under the surface
of sample of clothing material. The sample is
sprayed on its outside surface with 500 mL of
liquid from a height of 61 cm. The blotter paper is
then reweighed after exposure to liquid impact.
The increase in weight is reported as the impact
resistance.
Impact Penetration Test
Surgical Fabrics
• Surgical Wrappers
• Surgical Gowns
• Surgical Drapes
Surgical Wrappers
• What are surgical wrappers used for?
Surgical wrappers are primarily used
to protect the contents of surgical packs
from becoming contaminated, allowing
for aseptic presentation of pack contents.
Surgical Drapes
• Fenestrated
• Non-Fenestrated
Q:
A:
What is a fenestration?
A fenestration is a fixed opening
incorporated into the design of the
surgical drape to facilitate access to
the operative site
Precaution Gowns
• Hydrostatic resistance of 25-50cms
• Fluorochemical finish
– Reduce the critical surface energy of the
finished fabric
• Liquid resistant
• Control spread of infection from the visitor
to the hospital environment and vice-versa
Pillow Ticking
• Liquid Resistant Fabric
• Antimicrobial
– Anti-bacterial and Anti-fungal
• Flame Retardant
Hamper Bags
End User Requirements
•
Resistance to bacteria penetration, wet and
dry
•
Resistance to liquid penetration
•
No linting
•
Bursting strength, both wet and dry
•
Tensile strength, wet and dry
Engineering Fabrics with Improved
Barrier Properties
• In order to engineer a barrier fabric to meet the changing
needs, three areas were addressed:
1. Selection of a hydrophobic fiber.
2. Construction of a fabric with a small pore size.
3. Use of chemical finishes to enhance barrier
performance.
Fiber Selection
•Polyester was the likely candidate for a barrier
fabric because it is hydrophobic by its very
nature, i.e., it holds only 0.3% of its dry weight in
water. This is unlike cotton which holds 7-8% of
its dry weight in water.
•Add to this its durability to institutional
processing and availability as a continuous
filament, it was the ideal candidate.
Construction with Small Pore Size
• Pore sizes for barrier fabrics can reduced to
around 2 microns by:
1. Typically weaving versus knitting can produce
a fabric with a smaller pore size.
2. Compaction in weaving, i.e., increasing the
number of yarns per unit area is better able to
be accomplished today due to the newer
weaving equipment that is available.
3. Calendaring uses two heated rollers under
pressure to further minimize pore size.
Microfiber Surgical Fabric
Coated/Laminated Surgical
Fabric
Engineering Fabrics with Low Lint
Properties
• Traditional spun yarns used in
reusable fabrics and spun laced
disposables are both constructed
with “staple fibers”. The ends of
each fiber is a potential source of
lint.
• Filament barrier fabrics use
continuous filaments that do not
have fiber ends and are therefore
relatively lint-free.
Linting (continued)
• The surface of a product made from
continous filaments have no fiber ends and
therefore has very little propensity to lint.
Chemical Finishes
•Today almost all “standard” performance surgical
fabrics (disposable and reusable) use fluorochemical
finishes to impart higher levels of repellency.
•Without fluorochemicals, these filament polyester
fabrics would only have about 1/3 of their barrier
properties.
Fluorochemicals
• Good for reusables
– Heat treatments after cleaning reactivate the protection
• Fluorochemical protector molecules consist of two
parts: the fluorinated part and the non-fluorinated
part
– Fluorinated part consists of carbon atoms linked to
other carbon atoms
– Attached and surrounding each carbon atoms are
fluorine atoms
– Greater the number of fluorine atoms and more closely
packed they are, the better the repellency.
Surface Tension
Conclusion
• Cost and Performance Analysis
• Chemical Finishing
– Imparting functionality to textiles
• Innovations and Product Development
– Textiles, Chemical & Material Sciences
• Protective Textiles—an important measure
to control infection in a healthcare setting.