Protective Coveralls

 Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the white coat has been replaced by generous protective coveralls. After long hours of work, they wear protective gown, tired and sweaty.

In addition to the unsuitable design, the comfort of medical disposable protective clothing fabrics is also poor. Disposable medical protective clothing is designed for short-term use, and the use time should not exceed 2 hours. But during the outbreak, when the supply of protective clothing is insufficient and health workers often have to wear protective clothing for more than 6 hours, comfort becomes very important.

  The surface of the human body evaporates a large amount of water every day, most of which evaporate in the form of sweat. Most of the clothes we wear sweat a lot and are comfortable and breathable. In order to enhance the protective power of medical protective gown, the fabric is usually treated with a film or film, which is thick and breathable, and has poor moisture permeability. The moisture permeability of protective clothing is far below the standard of human comfort.

So, why not use reusable protective coverall? This is because its technology is not yet mature. It needs to be cleaned and disinfected after each use. It is killed after high temperature sterilization, and the stability of the fabric is difficult to guarantee. The disposable medical protective clothing has the advantages of simple manufacturing process and low cost. Disposable protective clothing can effectively avoid cross-infection caused by repeated use and reduce protection. Therefore, medical disposable protective clothing is the most widely used protective clothes in the world. In addition to its own technical defects, there are currently only technical standards for disposable medical protective clothing. Reusable protective gown lacks national standards and cannot be quality controlled and evaluated. Therefore, although there are some companies on the market that can produce protective gown materials that can be reused many times, they are still far away from mass production.

 By finding new protective materials, it is possible to balance the protection and comfort of medical protective clothes. The clothes worn by athletes are highly water-permeable. If the same material and structure are used on the protective gown, the comfort will be greatly improved.

With the development of fabric-based flexible sensor technology, the intelligentization of medical protective coveralls becomes possible. Sensors implanted in textile materials can monitor physiological indicators such as breathing, pulse, heart rate and body temperature. The upload of human body data can provide real-time information on the physical condition of medical staff, thereby effectively avoiding the risk of health damage or even sudden death caused by overwork of medical staff. However, the cost of new technologies is high, and it is difficult to truly serve daily life.

 The feeling of wearing reveals other flaws in the design of the protective coveralls. There are no pockets on the medical protective coverall. At work, medical staff cannot carry common tools such as pens, flashlights, tape, mobile phones, etc., and need to go back and forth to the nurse’s desk many times, which increases the workload. In order to solve the storage problem, many medical institutions and medical team members have made their own backpacks and purses.

"Design is for people, not for products." This is the concept of Germany, the birthplace of industrial design. Protective clothing is designed to protect people from harm. Unfit, uncomfortable and inconvenient protective gown obviously needs improvement.