Industry Innovations for Summer 2021 will showcase innovative product offerings supporting personal protective equipment (PPE) for infection prevention and control in health care.
We have had an unprecedented year and the focus on personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted its importance in health care. From
production and supply to distribution and use, PPE plays an integral role in keeping healthcare workers safe. In light of that, the past year has raised some interesting questions and challenges regarding PPE including its shelf life, the advantages and disadvantages of disposable versus reusable PPE, the use of masks for PPE and source control, extending the use of PPE and the feasibility of decontamination of different types of PPE, to name a few.
The use of PPE is considered the last line of the defense in the hierarchy of controls and the use
of PPE is an integral part of healthcare systems to help prevent the transmission of infectious agents. New and emerging infections continue to test the boundaries of our knowledge
and use of infection prevention and control measures, including how we procure and use PPE. We welcome innovations from our industry partners that can assist in addressing these
challenges to support IPAC programs to build effective surveillance practices and processes.
Thank you to IPAC Canada members for the continued opportunity to showcase our industry partners in this publication.
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT GUIDELINES:
The role of the Editor, Industry Innovations is to ensure this publication is a high quality, structured, and comparative resource for Infection Prevention and Control Canada’s (IPAC Canada) core membership.
All submissions to Industry Innovations are subject to curatorial review.
Relevance to IPAC Canada membership and integrity of claims will be assessed prior to approval or denial of publication partnership. For whitepapers accepted for publication, the editor, guest editor, and publisher will coordinate with the submitting industry partner prior to publication with applicable technical editing requests. The editor, guest editor, and publisher will also ensure the curation and publishing process of whitepapers and advertisements accepted for publication are managed transparently in consultation with authoring industry partners.
Preferred whitepapers for publication in Industry Innovations will refrain from subjective and unverifiable claims. They will use a mixture of industry voice, technical specification, and use-case logistics with significant attention to the immediate organizational impact of implementation. The numbered guideline sections below are sequentially ordered to provide a comparable reading flow throughout Industry Innovations volumes and must be adhered to during whitepaper development. The suggested word count is included for the whitepaper author’s reference to ensure sufficient content is incorporated into each section without exceeding the suggested submission length of 4500 words.
GENERAL GUIDELINES:
- Core Focus: Industry Innovations’ guidelines are structured to provide a comparable summary of considerations to enable IPAC Canada readership to assess their organization’s implementation readiness and the immediateuse-cases of an industry product
- Do not compare your product’s solution to competing solutions
- Where clinical or industry research is referenced; ensure summary description of the research is included rather than generalizations
- For in-text citations, use parenthetical numbers (Vancouver style) and append references to end of whitepaper using the same order of numbers appearing in-text.
- Abstract – ~500 Words:
- What makes this product stand out as an innovative contribution or solution to issues of PPE supply and use in healthcare facilities?
- Please refrain from comparative analysis to other innovations regarding PPE, but common standardized processes may be
- Specifications – ~600 Words:
- Describe the technology/engineering design of the personal protective equipment
- If there are electronic components to the personal protective equipment or technology innovation, please describe their utility (sensor, tracking, cleaning, connectivity, etc).
- Describe any additional resources used peripherally to your product innovation if applicable and what ongoing resources a healthcare facility implementing your solution will need to have in place to support the PPE innovation you describe (e.g., storage/wall space, embedded into infrastructure, ).
- Metrics - ~600 Words:
- Describe any recommended statistical tracking methodology for PPE use/production, as applicable (e.g., measurement of PPE use, recommended volume of PPE to be used, number of uses prior to discard, ).
- Previous quantitative research in effectiveness of the PPE innovation may be described and referenced
- Practice Changes - ~600 Words:
- Please describe the frontline practice changes involved in implementing your company’s solution (not the overall impact of PPE use but rather the impact of your PPE innovation).
- For example, will your solution add additional steps to PPE donning and doffing process? Will it affect care of the patient? Will there need to be accommodations for additional laundering of reusable products or disposal of single use products? Will healthcare providers need to be trained to use your new product or innovation?
- Implementation - ~600 Words:
- Please describe the steps involved in implementation of your PPE innovation.
- What stakeholders are needed (Infection Control, Occupational Health, Health Educator, Environmental Services, Facilities/ Maintenance, …)?
- What activities involved in initial implementation/ongoingmaintenance of this innovation will be managed by your company?
- What initial/ongoing maintenance steps will be managed by the healthcare facility hosting your PPE solution?
- What maintenance steps are required to ensure the PPE innovation is operating effectively on a continuous basis?
- Narrative - ~700 words:
- Please provide in narrative format the post-implementation use-case of the PPE innovation including a description of the PPE production and management process using the product by healthcare staff and any new processes involved with use of the product.
- Please refrain from describing the general workflow associated with PPE use; focus on tasks performed by healthcare institution staff involving the immediate use of your product
- Cost Estimate - ~300 words:
- Please provide a cost estimate in table format for implementation of your PPE solution given typical needs in a small/medium/Large healthcare setting
- Contact Info
- Please provide detailed contact info (phone, email, webpage, etc.) to ensure interested readers are able to reach out for further information and estimates.
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