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Hello everyone. For anyone who's interested here's an overview of the McMonty isolation hood developed in Melbourne in response to COVID-19.
1.COVID-19 Pandemic. Photos of patients being treated in Feb./March 2020.
A variety of different devices were being trialled to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from patients to other patients and health care workers (HCWs).
A variety of different devices were being trialled to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from patients to other patients and health care workers (HCWs).
March 2020. Staff in ICUs and hospitals around the world were going to extraordinary efforts to treat patients and avoid COVID-19 infection.
1.March 2020. Negative Pressure Rooms were often few and far between in many countries. We had to reserve our ICU NPRs for intubation/resuscitation of COVID-19 patients.
March 2020. So I began thinking of a device that could replace the negative pressure room.
A pram hood that has a cover over a patient’s bed with a fan and filter could be the device that brings the negative pressure to the patient. But I had no idea about how to build anything
A pram hood that has a cover over a patient’s bed with a fan and filter could be the device that brings the negative pressure to the patient. But I had no idea about how to build anything
Mid-March 2020. Via Melbourne University colleagues we found an expert in the field of mechanical engineering.
Enter Prof. Jason Monty with his excellent University of Melbourne team:
Will Lee, Kevin Kevin, Max Rounds, Geoff Duke. Excellent assistance provided by Robyn Schofield, Jia-Yee, and Damon Beckwith. Also, wonderful work by Jim Patel of CSIRO Energy.
Will Lee, Kevin Kevin, Max Rounds, Geoff Duke. Excellent assistance provided by Robyn Schofield, Jia-Yee, and Damon Beckwith. Also, wonderful work by Jim Patel of CSIRO Energy.
Early April 2020. Off to the hospital with the first prototype. Note the original whiteboard backing. And note the occupants…
First functional hospital prototype with fan/filter in place at the rear. Sam Bates, super research co-ordinator in the hood at Western Health, Melbourne.
April/May 2020. Testing the McMonty hood in the rigged up clean room at the University of Melbourne, School of Mechanical Engineering. The hood’s fan clears the volume of the hood over 100 times per hour (compared with 12 per hour for a negative pressure room).
And here is the rear of the isolation hood. The fan is housed in the black container, whilst the HEPA H-13 filter (rated to 99.97% clearance of 0.3 micron particles) is in green. Air passes from the patient, down the tubing to the fan and filter where viruses are trapped.
April 2020. Testing the efficacy of the McMonty Hood required the use of two spectrometers (the APS and SMPS). Ruhi Humphries, aerosol scientist from CSIRO was integral.
Forbes in the hood being ‘BiPAP tested’. We were interested in seeing how ‘aerosol generating’ various medical interventions were: BiPAP and nebulisation certainly were up there!
Results! The McMonty hood prevented at least 98% of all aerosols from escaping. Note the x-axis gives micron size, y-axis= % of aerosols trapped within.
Charge on! McMonty Manufacture at the Uni. Melbourne School of Mechanical Engineering.
Since the isolation hood prevented aerosols from escaping very efficiently we went into small scale production, ready to assist in treating patients with infectious respiratory conditions.
Since the isolation hood prevented aerosols from escaping very efficiently we went into small scale production, ready to assist in treating patients with infectious respiratory conditions.
July 2020. Then Melbourne had the COVID-19 Second Coming…
The isolation hood became part of routine therapy in treating patients with COVID-19 in Western Health’s EDs and ICUs...
The isolation hood became part of routine therapy in treating patients with COVID-19 in Western Health’s EDs and ICUs...
