A Peninsula hospital is set to trial a world-first Instant Patient Isolation Room early next year in a bid to improve patient and healthcare worker safety and stop the spread of emerging infections.
Developed in Australia, the Rediroom is a device that is designed to help stop the spread of infection in hospitals by giving patients an effective isolation room.
The trial is expected to last for several months and will test between 10 to 15 patients on their experience inside the room.
The experience of patients who reside near the room will also be monitored.
Based at the Central Coast campus of the University of Newcastle, Professor Brett Mitchell was integral in the development of the device, responsible for the testing of the concept in its earlier stages of production.
With the roll out of isolation rooms overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, Mitchell said the isolation room will allow for a rapid isolation of patients in dangerous situations.
“In hospitals, people need isolation for a range of infectious diseases,” Mitchell said.
“In many hospitals, there are not enough single rooms to meet demand … demand is also likely to increase as the threat of antimicrobial resistance and emerging diseases increases.”
Mitchell said the use of a portable isolation room would give flexibility for health services to provide increased isolation capacity at times of demand, without having to invest in major infrastructure.
“The room is also likely to be of use to areas outside of hospitals, for example in mass gatherings or mass casualty events,” Mitchell added.
The GAMA Healthcare device, which will be evaluated in three hospitals across the country, can be easily assembled in several areas across a hospital, and deconstructed when there is no demand.
The trial is expected to provide insights into what patients think about the room, informing future designs, modifications and communication methods to patients.
Maisy Rae