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The IIS Aragón creates a portable device for personal use to disinfect hands. The initiative of Dr. Antonio Güemes and researcher Marta Baselga seeks licensees for its production and launch on the market.
In the new normal, we cannot relax, we must take preventive measures into account to avoid outbreaks. Along with the use of masks, hand disinfection is essential. Therefore, wearing this bracelet filled with hydroalcoholic gel, ready to be dispensed at any time, "helps you remember, it is like a warning sign: don't forget, we are in a pandemic!", highlights Marta Baselga, lead researcher. of the project together with Antonio Güemes, professor at the University of Zaragoza and head of General Surgery at the Lozano Blesa University Clinical Hospital in Zaragoza.
Both are part of the Surgical, Clinical and Experimental Research group and, although they initially devised this device to help healthcare personnel comply with protocols, the intention is for the general population to have access to it. The objective is the same: to increase the frequency of this self-protection gesture because, with just a light press, the bracelet dispenses a dose of antiseptic directly into the hand quickly and comfortably, facilitating immediate disinfection, wherever you are. "It can also be used to disinfect small daily contact surfaces, such as a door handle or an elevator button," adds Baselga.
The device is very simple: a light bracelet, made of silicone, that the user fits around the wrist; Slightly pressing its small reservoir provides a dose of hydroalcoholic solution. This good idea adds a point of sustainability because, being refillable, "it avoids the massive purchase of small antiseptic bottles made of plastic to carry with you." The capacity of the bracelet is about 15 ml, equivalent to about 25 doses.
This initiative, funded by the Aragón Health Research Institute, was tested in a field study. After wearing the device for several days, "more than 80% of the 25 participating Clinic health workers admitted to having asepticized themselves more frequently and consider that the device is attractive and useful, since each recharge lasts between three and five hours of their day." work," explains Baselga.
The biomedical engineering company Dima, located in Calatayud, has been in charge of producing the first units. "With the prototypes and the model already optimized, we are looking for companies interested in obtaining a license for its mass production and its launch on the market," says Baselga. For this engineer, "if we can get it at an affordable price, we will see that, sometimes, the simplest ideas have a high added value, in this case intensifying hand hygiene."
