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Whether it’s SARS or novel coronavirus pneumonia, medical protective clothing plays a vital role in every spread of the virus,
and the quality of medical protective clothing is gradually improving with the improvement of production technology. This article
will comprehensively explain medical protective clothing from the following 4 aspects.
Medical protective clothing, also known as medical protective suit, disposable protective coverall, or antivirus suit. Medical
protective clothing refers to the protective clothing used by medical personnel (doctors, nurses, public health personnel,
cleaners, etc.) and people entering a specific health areas (such as patients, hospital visitors, persons entering the infected
area, etc.). Medical protective clothing has good moisture permeability and barrier, has the function of resisting the penetration
of alcohol, blood, body fluid, air dust particles, and bacterial virus, effectively protect the safety of personnel and keep the
environment clean.
1.2 What are the structure and common categories of medical protective clothing.
Medical protective clothing is a combination of hats, tops, and trousers. There are two kinds of medical protective clothing:
isolation gown and protective clothing. The main difference between medical protective clothing and isolation gown is that
medical protective clothing is more durable than isolation clothing, the protection grade is higher, the protection performance is
better, the protection purpose and the protection principle of them are different.
2 Production of medical protective clothing
2.1 What are the common raw materials and performance of medical protective clothing.
The common materials used in disposable medical protective clothing are polypropylene textile adhesive fabric, new polyester
fiber, polymer coated fabric, SMS nonwovens, polyethylene breathable film/nonwoven composite. At present, most of them use
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) material to make medical protective clothing, PTFE is a kind of high-performance polymer,
which cannot only resist water pressure but also discharge water vapor through micropores. The related properties of these
materials are as follows:
2.2 Manufacture of medical protective clothing.
The common medical protective clothing usually consists of a hat, top and trousers. Through cutting, stitching, tightness,
adhesive pressing tape and other manufacturing technology, we can produce qualified medical protective clothing. In the whole
process, the machine involved is mainly sewing machine and glue pressing machine.
In response to a large number of medical workers who were infected during the treatment, WHO and the United States CDC
suggested that appropriate protective equipment should be selected to control the spread of the highly contagious virus.
Medical protective clothing should be able to block the passage of microorganisms, particulate matter and fluid, withstand
disinfection treatment, durable, wear-resistant, tear-resistant, puncture-proof, anti-fiber strain; no toxic ingredients, no velvet,
good cost-effective, comfortable and safe to comply with OSHA regulations.
Medical protective clothing is a safety protection equipment with a very high level, the quality inspection is very strict, and need
to test a lot of items. Meet only one standard, there need to test multiple performances. Due to the particularity of the use
environment, the common test items for medical protective clothing are spray rating, sterilization performance, disinfection
requirements, breaking strength, elongation at break, filtration efficiency, flame resistance, etc., which can be divided into three
aspects.
Barrier is the most important performance of protective clothing, including three aspects: liquid barrier performance, microbial
barrier performance, filtration performance.
Liquid barrier refers to the medical protective clothing should be able to prevent the penetration of water, blood, alcohol and
other liquids, with more than 4 levels of hydrophobicity, to avoid the virus carried by patient’s blood, body fluids and other
secretions which infect the medical staff. Microbial barrier refers to the protective clothing against bacteria and viruses, mainly
to prevent the contact transmission between medical staff and patients and cross-infection. Filtering performance refers to
preventing viruses transmitted through the air in the form of aerosols which inhaled or attached to the skin surface that result in
infection.
This test is designed to ensure that the material has sufficient strength to resist physical damage, such as immersion, impact,
puncture, and tearing. Take NFPA 1999 as an example. The performance indicators are as follows:
The most basic test here is the breaking strength, such as in NFPA 1999, the breaking strength test reference standard ASTM
D5034, and the test instrument is Textile Tensile Testing Machine.
Protective clothing is made of isolation material, so the heat is not easy to emit, if the heat accumulates too much, people will
feel uncomfortable, affecting the efficiency and quality of work. Comfort includes air permeability, water vapor resistance,
drape, weight, surface thickness, electrostatic properties, reflectivity, odor, and skin sensitization, among which the most
important are air permeability and water vapor permeability.
For example, air permeability, European and American countries often use high-tech materials (PTFE microporous membrane,
etc.) to improve the air permeability of medical protective clothing. NFPA 1999 uses overall heat loss (THL) to indicate the heat
dissipation performance of protective clothing, requiring that the THL must be greater than 450 W/m². The reference test
standard is ASTM F1868 and the test instrument is Swatting Guarded Hotplate.
In addition to the previous performance, medical protective clothing also needs to have the following disinfection tolerance:
good color fastness to washing, non-flammable, prevent shrinkage, non-toxic and non-irritating, no harm to the skin, etc.
Because there are many items to be tested, the corresponding test standards and instruments are not listed here, here is more
information on textile testing instruments.
The use of protective clothing is closely related to our life and health, so it is essential to select protective clothing that meets
quality requirements. At present, the main well-known brands are Dupont of the United States, the United States Lakeland, 3M,
Sperian, and so on. After getting the protective clothing, the correct use is also more important.
In the buffer zone between the contaminated area and the semi-contaminated area:
Take off the outer shoe cover →
Take off the disposable isolation gown and roll it into the center →
Take off the outer gloves →
Take off the goggles →
Enter the buffer zone between the semi-polluted area and the clean area:
Take off the shoe cover →
Take off protective clothing →
Take off the gloves →
Take off the mask and take care not to touch the outer surface of the mask →
Take off the disposable isolation cap, change the slippers, and disinfect your hand →
Enter the clean area, after washing and changing clothes, can return to the living area.
Proper training, use and maintenance of protective clothing are important for safety. In any case, please confirm that the
product is complete, the place of use, wear correctly, wear it all the time during exposure and replace it if necessary.
Before use, if you need to wear other safety protective equipment (masks, goggles, etc.), the user should read the product
instructions carefully to ensure that the protective equipment is properly matched.
After use, in the process of taking off the protective clothing, wash hands or disinfect hands in all aspects of the process, to
avoid pollution. The above protective articles, except the protective mirror to be sterilized, the other disposable articles should
be placed in a designated waste bin for centralized treatment.