P.1 dispensing of hospital exam gloves
Problem Description
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is defined as clothing and equipment that is worn or used by health care workers to provide protection against hazardous substances or environments for the health care personnel. PPE includes face masks, gowns, exam gloves.
In a developed country like USA, usually PPE is very ubiquitous and always available in abundant supply. However, supplies and availabilities of PPE can fall in short supply when healthcare systems are stressed. This became very apparent during recent COVID19 pandemic in 2020. Healthcare system was in crisis mode and PPE supplies were being rationed.
Exam Gloves are probably one of the most widely used PPE in healthcare systems and considered an essential part of infection prevention. T
Currently, dispensing system of exam gloves is a box from which user will try to pull out a pair of gloves for individual use. However, the current dispensing system is very wasteful. Almost all the time, user pulls out more than two gloves at one time (please see attached video). The unused gloves subsequently must be thrown away and are wasted. In addition, the edges of the box from where gloves are pulled out are serrated. (Please see attached video) This puts user at an increased risk for developing cuts in the hands from the serrated edges, subsequently increasing risk of developing infection.
Therefore, the goal of this project is to re-design a dispensing system for gloves that will ensure that user pulls out only the required number of gloves without causing wastage. The edges of the opening of the box from where the gloves are dispensed should also be redesigned to make it less prone to causing cuts to the hands of the users.
Video 1
Video 2
.
Video
