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The Difference Between Disposable Medical Protective Clothing and Disposable Surgical Gown

The Difference Between Disposable Medical Protective Clothing and Disposable Surgical Gown

1. The role of disposable medical protective clothing and disposable surgical gown


Disposable Protective Clothing: Protective clothing consists of a hooded top and pants. It can be divided into single-piece structures and separate structures. The trouser legs and cuffs are tightened, and the suit has a higher level of protection than a gown. Disposable is generally recommended.


The standard clearly states that protective clothing must have liquid barrier functions (water resistance, moisture permeability, resistance to synthetic blood penetration, surface moisture resistance), flame retardancy and antistatic properties, for breaking strength, elongation at break, filtration efficiency and Other requirements are required.


Disposable surgical gowns: Disposable surgical gowns play a two-way protective role during surgery. First, disposable surgical gowns create a barrier between the patient and medical staff to reduce the possibility of medical staff being exposed to the patient's blood or other bodily fluids during surgical procedures.


Second, disposable surgical gowns can prevent colonization/adhesion of medical staff's skin or clothing, preventing the spread of various bacteria on the surface to surgical patients.


Effectively avoid cross-infection of multidrug-resistant bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Therefore, the barrier function of disposable surgical gowns is considered to be the key to reducing the risk of infection during surgery.


2. Indications for medical disposable protective clothing and disposable surgical gown


Disposable Protective Clothing: Patients exposed to Class A or Class A infectious disease management. Follow the latest infection control guidelines when contacting patients with suspected or confirmed SARS, Ebola, MERS, H7N9 avian influenza.


Disposable surgical gowns: In specialized operating rooms, disposable surgical gowns are used for strict aseptic disinfection and invasive treatments.


3. Appearance and material requirements of disposable surgical gowns


According to the European standard EN13795, surgical clothing materials have clear requirements for barrier properties, strength, microbial permeability and comfort. Surgical gowns should be impermeable, sterile, one-piece, and capless.


Typically, the cuffs of surgical gowns are elastic and easy to don, which is beneficial for wearing sterile gloves. Disposable surgical gowns are used not only to protect medical personnel from infectious substances, but also to protect the sterility of surgical procedures.


4. Relevant standards for medical disposable protective clothing


In terms of packaging and labeling of protective footwear and clothing products, Chinese standards, US NFPA 1999 and EU standards have made relatively comprehensive and strict regulations.


China's GB 19082-2009 "Technical Requirements for Medical Disposable Protective Clothing" stipulates that disposable medical protective clothing consists of a hooded top and pants, and is divided into a one-piece structure and a split structure, which is not suitable for reusable protective clothing. It also stipulates the flame retardant performance, water level, charge density, elongation at break and waterproofness of medical protective clothing.


The protective clothing applicable to the US NFPA 1999 standard is divided into two types: disposable and reusable, including split and one-piece work clothes, and those used by patients.


In addition to the conventional physical strength performance, flame retardant performance and other indicators, the standard also requires the overall testing of medical disposable protective clothing, and the isolation layer and seams should be tested for resistance to liquid and microbial penetration.


The European Union's EN 14126-2003 "Protective clothing - Performance requirements and test methods for anti-infective protective clothing" applies to repeatable and limited-use protective clothing. However, it is not suitable for surgeons and patients to avoid cross-infection during surgery.


Among them, it is required that the seams of disposable medical protective clothing should meet the strength requirements in EN 14325, and the whole set of protective clothing is divided into 6 categories according to the protective performance.


From type1 to type6, the smaller the number, the higher the protection; type4 is recommended for medical use, and the type with (B) is biological protection. Generally, type B protective clothing is preferred.


Therefore, the key indicators of medical protective clothing testing are liquid barrier performance, which mainly include water resistance, wet penetration, synthetic blood penetration resistance, and water level.


In addition, there are also determination of breaking strength and elongation at break, determination of filtration efficiency of disposable medical protective clothing, analysis of flame retardant performance, analysis of antistatic performance, etc.