What Is Isolation Gown

 Currently, there are no national or industry standards for medical isolation gown

Links to an external site.. The American standard ASTM F3352-19 defines medical isolation gown as protective gown used to protect medical staff, visitors and patients from the transfer of microorganisms and body fluids in the case of patient isolation. Medical isolation gown can also be used to protect visitors in the medical environment. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for quarantine prevention, medical quarantine clothing is worn to protect the arms and exposed body areas of health care personnel during surgery and patient care when expected contact with clothing, blood, body fluids, secretions, and excretions is made.

Medical isolation gowns are widely used in intensive care units (ICU), infectious diseases departments and infectious diseases hospitals in general hospitals. Currently, there are two kinds of medical isolation gowns in clinical use: disposable and non-disposable. The price of disposable medical isolation clothing is expensive, and it will cause a lot of waste if used in large quantities. There are many problems with non-disposable medical isolation gown: the collar, cuff and abdomen are easily contaminated, which reduces the use time of medical isolation gown; Cuff, back and bottom design has defects, easy to pollute the work clothes of staff; The material is not waterproof, etc. Studies have shown that there are many factors causing nosocomial infection. Among them, the direct contact with infection is caused by medical personnel and paramedics spreading their own colonization pathogenic microorganisms or infectious substances to patients through contact, while medical personnel wearing medical isolation gown can effectively prevent and control the occurrence of nosocomial infection.

ASTM F3352-19 provides for medical quarantine clothing designed to protect healthcare workers, patients, and visitors from blood, body fluids, and other potentially infectious substances during patient care or treatment. The novel Coronavirus and other viruses that spread through the air are not mentioned here.

ASTM F3352-19 provides for "360° coverage" which ensures that at least the front, side and back of the arms and body are fully covered from the knee to the neck (not including the neck) during movement. We can see that the protective scope of the medical isolation gown is from the knee to the neck (excluding the neck), instead of covering the whole body from the head to the feet. The head, neck, hands and feet are not covered by the protective scope.

Medical quarantine clothing is used to protect medical personnel from contamination by blood, body fluids and other infectious substances during contact and to protect patients from infection. Contact with infective diseases transmitted by contact, such as transmissible diseases and patients infected with multi-drug resistant bacteria; Protective isolation of patients, such as patients with large area burns and patients with bone grafting; Prevent infection by spillage of the patient's blood, body fluids, secretions and discharge. In general medical isolation patients taking in close isolation, contact isolation and protective isolation.