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INF ECT ION PR EVENT ION & CONT ROL


Tactical use of portable sinks during a pandemic


Isolation facilities tackling the new coronavirus are now turning to portable handwashing facilities. The tactical use of portable sinks can help increase infection prevention efforts.


We are now experiencing a completely new environment as the virus, COVID-19, has spread rapidly changing daily lives with serious impact on countries, individuals and medical staff around the world. A world- wide lockdown and social distancing have meant behaviour changes and a new focus on preventative measures.


The Centers for Disease Control and


Prevention Worldwide has included in their advice the most effective way to control the spread of the virus: wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. This message is now becoming part of our new culture as we focus on hand hygiene.


The message is, and always will be, that hand hygiene is the most important factor against the spread of infection and regular hand washing with soap and water the most effective method. The NHS UK offer specific advice to avoid the spread of viral infections and summarises that the handwashing solution is important but also warns about any reliance on alcohol hand gels as they don’t kill the virus. For some time, hospitals and the NHS have long recognised the need to add to their existing hand washing facilities during periods of high occurrence of influenza and norovirus. The tactical use of portable sinks is now becoming accepted as a simple and easy to use solution to ensure hand washing is carried out by staff and for visitors. From February this year, hospitals such as


Teal sinks can be positioned at the point of need.


Arrowe Park hospital in the Wirral, that were designated as an isolation facility, purchased portable sinks from Teal. Sinks were also purchased by other hospitals in response to the need for stand-alone isolation facilities. In the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak this included the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, and the Wolverhampton Royal Hospital. Over the lock-down period, Teal also supplied portable sinks to a large number of UK hospital sites, from Scotland to Cornwall, and received sales enquiries from North America and Europe.


The sinks are stand-alone and can be placed exactly where needed, totally independent of any plumbing that exists in the building or room. Another advantage of the sinks is that they can be purchased, then activated, whenever needed by the hospital, making them an efficient tactical solution. They are supplied with their own water containers and separate waste containers that are housed inside the unit. This allows isolation rooms, that may have limited


50 l WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM


plumbing, to have their own sink away from other patients. The sinks can also be used to act as a barrier, placed strategically, to ensure all staff and other visitors wash their hands before crossing into an area that needs isolation or protection.


Hand washing efficiency The ‘Mediwash’, one of the most popular sinks supplied, includes an automatic sensor, that starts a pre-programmed hand wash cycle, supported by onscreen instructions that direct the user to follow ‘The NHS hand washing instructions’ for effective hand washing. They are also easy to use as they are activated by the sensor and only need a hand to pass in front of it. The sinks are safe to use, no taps are needed, and the warm water shuts off automatically after the cycle has completed. It is also worth noting that, as the sinks dispense warm water at controlled temperatures, within the HSE guidelines, they remove the risk of scalding. Setting up the sink is straightforward; it can be plugged into a normal 13-amp


OCTOBER 2020


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