FLuorescent Imaging of Critical Cleanliness Areas – FLICCA

关键清洁区域的荧光成像 — FLICCA

• 批准号: 55593
• 金额: $ 9.4万
• 依托单位: IS-INSTRUMENTS LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Feasibility Studies
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=55593
• 关键词: FLuorescent; Imaging; Critical; Cleanliness; Areas

A major issue occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic is a global shortage in Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). This has mostly been due to the sudden nature of the onset and rapid progression to pandemic status, coupled with a supply chain prepared to accommodate the requirements for industry and healthcare, rather than mass public panic buying. There are several solutions to this global shortage going forwards; increase the supply chain, but this must be sustainable, produce different products for the mass market or make better use of the available PPE, either through re-use or better understanding of how often PPE needs replacing. The latter also helps combat another global threat, climate change, by reducing waste and encouraging increased re-use.Whilst front line healthcare professionals obviously require appropriate PPE to ensure their own and their patient's safety, accurately assessing the state of certain PPE could make a substantial difference to the availability as a whole. Whilst close contact PPE, such as gloves, must obviously be changed with extreme regularity, the guidance is less proscribed for other forms of PPE, such as face shields or reusable respirators. Here the advice is clear, but only qualitative (e.g. damaged, soiled, difficult to use). If the state of in-use PPE could be assessed quickly and reliably, waste could be reduced and contamination further minimised. Current CDC guidelines state it is preferable to use PPE beyond its lifetime rather than go without. Similarly, simple cleaning procedures may be sufficient to allow continued use of PPE that would previously have been discarded.We propose to assess the feasibility of producing a simple device based on fluorescent imaging to measure the state of in-use PPE and PPE after simple cleaning processes that could be carried out in a healthcare setting. We further propose that the same technology could be used to assess the cleanliness of in-situ equipment/facilities after decontamination (e.g. monitors, beds). This device could also have applications in the food production industry to ensure that food preparation areas and packaging produces no onward contamination through the food supply chain.As our project progresses the need for sustainable PPE has risen with the resurgence of the pandemic. However, even though sustainable PPE is being developed, the ability to use it is compromised by the lack of quality control technologies to confirm the suitability of reprocessed PPE. FLICCA will be extended to investigate if the technology is suitable for quality control by engaging with NHS Improvement to specify and test FLICCA against some of the proposed reprocessing concepts. A second issue, proposed by the NHS during the project, is to investigate wipe cleaning. The original project is looking for contamination on surfaces and confirmation of their removal through wiping, but the extension will examine wipe coverage by looking for fluorescence of the wipe residue. This may be a suitable gauge to ascertain if a given surface has been fully wiped (and thus cleaned and disinfected) or if further cleaning is required, similar to the training systems already used, but deployable in active sites. These two new avenues will provide vital functionality to the NHS but also significant additional revenue streams for the technology.

COVID-19疫情期间出现的一个主要问题是全球个人防护装备（PPE）短缺。这主要是由于疫情突然爆发，并迅速发展为大流行状态，加上供应链已准备好满足工业和医疗保健的要求，而不是大规模的公众恐慌性购买。未来有几种解决方案可以解决这一全球短缺问题：增加供应链，但这必须是可持续的，为大众市场生产不同的产品，或者通过重复使用或更好地了解PPE需要更换的频率来更好地利用现有的PPE。后者还有助于通过减少浪费和鼓励增加重复使用来应对另一个全球性威胁，即气候变化。虽然一线医疗保健专业人员显然需要适当的PPE来确保自己和患者的安全，但准确评估某些PPE的状态可能会对整体可用性产生重大影响。虽然密切接触PPE，如手套，显然必须以极高的频率更换，但该指南对其他形式的PPE，如面罩或可重复使用的消毒器的限制较少。这里的建议是明确的，但只是定性的（例如损坏，弄脏，难以使用）。如果能够快速可靠地评估使用中的个人防护设备的状态，就可以减少浪费，进一步减少污染。目前的CDC指南指出，最好是使用PPE超过其寿命，而不是去没有。同样，简单的清洁程序可能足以允许继续使用的PPE，以前已被丢弃，我们建议评估生产一个简单的设备的可行性的基础上荧光成像测量状态的PPE和PPE在简单的清洁过程后，可以在医疗环境中进行。我们进一步建议，同样的技术可用于评估现场设备/设施（例如监测器、床）在去污后的清洁程度。该设备还可应用于食品生产行业，以确保食品制备区域和包装不会通过食品供应链产生后续污染。随着我们项目的进展，随着疫情的重新爆发，对可持续PPE的需求也在增加。然而，尽管正在开发可持续的个人防护设备，但由于缺乏质量控制技术来确认再加工的个人防护设备的适用性，使用这种设备的能力受到影响。FLICCA将被扩展到调查该技术是否适合质量控制，方法是与NHS改进部门合作，根据一些拟议的再处理概念对FLICCA进行详细说明和测试。NHS在项目期间提出的第二个问题是调查擦拭清洁。最初的项目是寻找表面上的污染物，并确认通过擦拭将其去除，但扩展将通过寻找擦拭残留物的荧光来检查擦拭覆盖率。这可能是一个合适的衡量标准，以确定给定的表面是否已被完全擦拭（并因此清洁和消毒），或是否需要进一步清洁，类似于已经使用的培训系统，但可部署在活跃的网站。这两个新的途径将为NHS提供重要的功能，同时也为该技术提供了重要的额外收入来源。