Unpredictable supply shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care professionals have required new strategies in the selection and management of PPE, which typically includes eye protection, face masks and shields, gloves, head and shoe coverings, and isolation gowns. The so-called “surge capacity” status initiated at the onset of the pandemic continues to the present time. One finding that emerged amongst all the medical supply chain disruptions in recent years is the efficacy of reusable medical isolation gowns.
Read on to explore the benefits of washable isolation gowns.
Identified as the second-most-used piece of PPE1 following gloves, isolation gowns work to protect health care workers from potentially contaminated bodily fluids. Medical facilities should choose reusable isolation gowns because they have measurable performance advantages over disposable gowns, according to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC)2.
ImageFIRST, the nation's leading healthcare linen provider, offers an AAMI-rated level 2 isolation gown that meets a higher standard as a solution for providers looking to provide staff with quality personal protective gowns.
Learn More about Reusable Isolation Gowns for Your Facility
The October 2020 study from AJIC, “Disposable versus reusable medical gowns: A performance comparison” measures how disposable and reusable medical isolation gowns performed across tests that included water resistance, hydrostatic pressure (pressure exerted by a fluid at rest due to the force of gravity), and durability assessments. The study’s water resistance chart3 shows the average impact penetration of reusable gowns after 1, 25, 50, and 75 industrial launderings, in addition to the average impact penetration of new disposable gowns. In all tests, reusable gowns outperformed disposable gowns.
One of the points in the study’s findings spoke to the durability and economy of reusable isolation gowns (vs. disposable for example):
“To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to assess the performance of reusable gowns over their wash life. These findings support the durability of reusable gowns, making them more economical than disposable gowns and providing greater protection for HCWs (health care workers). This is especially important in times of PPE shortages, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, for which the CDC recommended the use of cloth gowns.”4
Included on the list of washable isolation gown benefits is comfort. The AJIC-published study states “thermal comfort is one of the top gown performance features that are likely to discourage healthcare worker compliance with wearing appropriate PPE.” It continued that while disposable gowns are anecdotally “known for” being comfortable, previous studies demonstrated that in shorter durations, “…reusable gowns are preferred for wearer comfort.”
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