A doctor at B.C.’s Abbotsford Regional Hospital has come up with an innovative way to keep staff and patients safe when working with COVID-19-positive patients.
Anesthesiologist Dr. Curt Smecher worked with the hospital’s maintenance staff to design the negative pressure vestibule, an airlock-like chamber that now guards operating rooms at the Abbotsford, Surrey Memorial and Royal Columbian hospitals.
The vestibule combines two important medical concepts that are at odds with one another during the pandemic. Hospital operating rooms are usually kept at a raised air pressure, so that air flows out of the room and no germs can flow in and infect a patient. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ] Patients