NHS Testimonial: Uvisan UV Cabinets
Having received a Uvisan VR 30 Cabinet, Education Simulation Lead at Torbay and South Devonshire NHS Foundation Trust Julian Wright wrote the following review and testimonial of Uvisan UV Cabinets.
As Simulation Lead we have been using UV cleaning products from the early start of the pandemic, whilst others would not pass it of as IPC (Infection Prevention & Control) compliant. We used VR equipment (Headsets include: Microsoft Hololens, HTC Vive Pro, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, Oculus Go) for a hastily created wellbeing space for our staff, to destress using VR relaxation therapy. In the early days we used American purchased Cleanboxes, which while being appropriate for single headsets, were simply not cost efficient, for using more than one headset. We needed a unit that could carry out multiple unit disinfection both rapidly and at cost of scale, rather than cost per unit.
Uvisan offered this option compared to its rivals in so far that it offered multiple unit disinfection alongside charging all in one single unit, meaning there is less plug sockets required to charge and clean multiple VR units.
As medical simulation covers simulated real items, not just using VR units to simulate real-life experiences, like most units pre-pandemic we reused certain equipment as it was not used on humans but simulated manikins. It became clear during the pandemic that reusing items was a potential infection risk for COVID, and our primary disinfectant plans that we had for sim equipment such as microphones, stethoscopes etc, would not be good enough to prevent cross contamination if someone presented into the sim suite with COVID.
For this reason, many simulation suites across the UK stopped running and went on line using both VR and teams-based simulation. Ironically however, by having a Uvisan box we were able to keep our sim suites running through the whole of the pandemic as all our simulation items were disinfected as per our own trust IPC policies with both chlorine-based wipes and Uvisan disinfection. This allowed us to practice complex medical procedures for staff who were able to do this using full PPE, prior to having to do it with COVID patients. This would not have been possible with the American Cleanbox system that is only designed for VR goggles only.
The Uvisan cabinets have been a valuable asset within our sim suite and we use them every time we conduct simulation training for our items that are reusable.
Julian Wright
Education Simulation Lead, Torbay & South Devon NHS FT
