Given the scarcity of personal protective equipment (PPE) at hospitals nationwide, the U.S. government is looking for ways healthcare professionals can decontaminate and reuse single-use PPE. Enter: the Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System.
The system operated by Battelle Memorial Institute, an Ohio-based nonprofit research corporation, is part of efforts in the D.C. area and across the country to reuse personal protective gear such as masks amid continued shortages of the equipment. The shortages have persisted largely as a result of supply chain failures, including the availability of materials, said Ingrida Lusis, vice president of policy and government affairs at the American Nurses Association.
On top of that, she said, some hospitals are storing large amounts of personal protective equipment amid concerns about future waves of the coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19. And as hospitals bid against one another to obtain critical materials such as respirators, gowns and gloves, some have lost out.
Read the full article on The Washington Post.
