An Australian invention has become the world's first deployed hospital instant patient isolation room to support the health response to COVID-19.
The Rediroom, which is manufactured by GAMA Healthcare, is considered an alternative to permanent isolation facilities. It can be easily deployed in less than five minutes and deconstructed when not needed – saving healthcare facilities valuable space and time.
The Rediroom can be used across hospitals, including multi-occupancy bays, emergency departments and triage areas. Yet because it is a temporary structure, it can also be utilised in aged-care facilities, airports and military bases.
Six National Health Services in the UK have joined Joondalup Health Service in Western Australia as the first hospitals to implement the Rediroom.
Hands-free entry and exit and built-in PPE are incorporated in the design. This assists in isolating infectious patients under contact or droplet precautions. This means that beyond COVID-19, Rediroom could reduce the spread of common contact and droplet pathogens, including Influenza, MRSA, Diphtheria, C.difficile and Mumps.
Anna Ballantyne, who is a nurse and its co-inventor of the said, “Rediroom was birthed out of the need to isolate patients for safety in regard to transmissible infectious organisms. Healthcare workers always aim to provide the best care for our patients and community. Working in emergency departments, I saw first-hand the domino effect on patients and staff of not having enough ‘single’ - contact and droplet - isolation rooms.
“Rediroom can be taken and used anywhere you need it; general wards, intensive care and emergency departments. For me, this helps flow within a hospital and means we can use multi-bay rooms for multiple people while safely isolating patients at the same time.”
Brett Mitchell, Professor of Nursing at the University of Newcastle, was responsible for testing the temporary isolation room concept and providing infection control expertise
“COVID-19 has really enforced the focus of my research, which is preventing infections from occurring in the first instance. The isolation room allows for rapid isolation of patients in situations where there is no other facility to do so.
“It’s great to see the roll-out of Rediroom in hospitals in the UK and Australia. In the long-term, I hope to see Rediroom being used by health services where current isolation requirements exceed demand.” Professor Mitchell will continue researching the Rediroom during 2021," said Professor Mitchell.