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AATCC Midwest Section Spring Meeting April 16, 2004 Presented by: Ash Garg, Product Management Group, Standard Textile Co., Inc. Reusable Protective Healthcare Textiles Slide 2 Hazards in a Healthcare Environment Bloodborne Pathogens Other pathogenic microorganisms present in body fluids Irritants Slide 3 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 Slide 4 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 Slide 5 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. Slide 6 Suter Equipment for Hydrostatic Resistance Measurement Slide 7 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. Slide 8 Impact Penetration Test Slide 9 Surgical Fabrics Surgical Wrappers Surgical Gowns Surgical Drapes Slide 10 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. Slide 11 Surgical Drapes Fenestrated Non-Fenestrated Q: What is a fenestration? A: A fenestration is a fixed opening incorporated into the design of the surgical drape to facilitate access to the operative site Slide 12 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 Slide 13 Pillow Ticking Liquid Resistant Fabric Antimicrobial Anti-bacterial and Anti-fungal Flame Retardant Slide 14 Hamper Bags Slide 15 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 Slide 16 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. Engineering Fabrics with Improved Barrier Properties Slide 17 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. Slide 18 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. Slide 19 Microfiber Surgical Fabric Slide 20 Coated/Laminated Surgical Fabric Slide 21 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. Slide 22 Linting (continued) The surface of a product made from continous filaments have no fiber ends and therefore has very little propensity to lint. Slide 23 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. Slide 24 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. Slide 25 Surface Tension Slide 26 Conclusion Cost and Performance Analysis Chemical Finishing Imparting functionality to textiles Innovations and Product Development Textiles, Chemical & Material Sciences Protective Textilesan important measure to control infection in a healthcare setting.