QAT for Medical

The introduction of QAT’s portable glove box the P.C.I is proven to be effective against the spread and reduction of a wide range of hospital acquired infections, nosocomila pathogens or superbugs such as Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium Difficile (C-diff) which are increasingly becoming a major issue for senior clinicians and administrators in hospitals around the world.  P.C.I’s are being used by major hospitals throughout the UK for clinical trials, gene therapy, monoclonal antibody preparation and chemotherapy reconstitution.  Our understanding of the conditions and environments required to diminish these superbugs have given us the advantage and opportunity to design control systems for the industries leading Isolator manufacturers such as Mach-Aire, Atlas Clean Air and many more.

 

Background

 

Medical Sector / Laboratory products are those associated with a health care or pharmaceutical application. For aseptic preparation or manufacture, an environment supplied with clean air is required. If the preparation is active or hazardous, a degree of containment will also be required to protect operating personnel and the environment. Conventionally, air flows rather than physical barriers have been used to achieve these aims. This has resulted in devices such as horizontal and vertical laminar flow stations for small-scale work, and clean rooms for large scale work. Where containment is required, cabinets with inward air flow such as Class 2 MSC units are commonly used, and may be sited inside negative pressure clean rooms. The disadvantage of this approach is that the aseptic environment of a clean room is compromised by the presence of people inside, and using an air flow as a means of protection is not as effective as a physical barrier. Isolators are the modern day solution and are being used increasingly in all market sectors. An isolator, as the name implies, is an isolated work area with physical barrier to separate it from its surroundings and operatives. Work takes place from the outside via gauntlets or in larger units, a half-suit arrangement. The isolator is supplied and exhausted with HEPA filtered air, and can be maintained at positive or negative pressure for product and operator protection respectively. Air flows can be turbulent or laminar, and transfer devices are used to allow the safe transfer of products into and out.