{"id":92556,"date":"2022-10-19T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-19T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=92556"},"modified":"2022-10-19T13:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T18:19:12","slug":"unmc-wins-national-ppe-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/10\/19\/unmc-wins-national-ppe-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"UNMC wins national PPE competition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Thang Nguyen, PhD, assistant professor of emergency medicine, reached into the isolation bag to grab a personal protective equipment gown, holding it up to check its size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes I put it on, and it’s a little too tight or too loose,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This daily uncertainty was the inspiration behind a concept that Dr. Nguyen and med center colleagues helped develop for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Protective Clothing Challenge competition. The competition challenged participants to develop a concept that addressed poor fit in U.S. workers\u2019 protective clothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and UNMC Department of Emergency Medicine teamed on the national challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result: A garment called the Omni-Fit PPE Gown and a first-place finish in the nationwide competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Nguyen, who was the engineer for the project, said the med center collaborators faced a similar problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wear PPE gowns for long durations,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it’s uncomfortable or ill-fitting, it hinders our ability to care for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team lead Shahnaz Benner, clinical program coordinator with the biocontainment unit and quarantine unit, spoke of her own experience as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was pregnant at the start of the pandemic and had to constantly wear PPE, which wasn\u2019t fun,\u201d said Benner, who also is a registered nurse in the emergency department at Nebraska Medicine. \u201cOur project team wanted to create something that could conform to various body types.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution they came up with was the Omni-Fit PPE Gown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its primary component is an accordion waistband that can expand or shrink to accommodate an individual\u2019s waist size. It also features a cooling material that addresses another problem familiar to medical professionals after more than two years of COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt can get extremely hot,\u201d Dr. Nguyen said. \u201cSometimes you start sweating, then your glasses fog up if you’re wearing a hood, and that hinders your ability to see. It just cascades, and a lot of these problems start compounding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cooling material, embedded in the gown\u2019s sleeves, activates when you sweat. Dr. Nguyen equated it to putting a wet sports towel on the back of an athlete\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The visual contamination indicator provides another potentially life-saving component. It works the way chemicals in a baby diaper do. The moment moisture hits the Omni-Fit gown, the indicator changes colors, giving the individual a visual warning that they may have been contaminated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, perforated sections were incorporated in the lower half of the gown. Often, a shorter individual may find themselves in a standard gown that is too long. The perforated sections in the Omni-Fit can remain intact or be ripped off, like a paper towel, to accommodate a person\u2019s height without impairing the gown\u2019s effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The med center team developed this concept in a few weeks, approaching the challenge, Dr. Nguyen said, with a commonsense mentality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resulting first-place win \u2013 over more than 35 competitors \u2013 took the team by surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were shocked,\u201d Dr. Nguyen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team was awarded $25,000. The money will be used to develop a working prototype, with the goal of bringing the Omni-Fit PPE Gown to market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benner said the win was a huge achievement and a testament to how well the emergency medicine department and biocontainment unit worked together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At the end of the day, we both have the same endgame,\u201d she said. \u201cWe strive to improve health care outcomes and keep people safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Omni-Fit PPE Gown finished first in the NIOSH Protective Clothing Challenge 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