Performance requirements of medical protective clothing

　　In addition to the specifications and safety requirements of the material itself, the performance of medical protective clothing mainly includes protection, comfort, physical and mechanical properties and so on.

　　1. Protection

　　Protection is the most important performance requirement of medical protective clothing, which mainly includes liquid barrier, microbial barrier, and barrier to particulate matter.

　　Liquid barrier property means that medical protective clothing should be able to prevent the penetration of water, blood, alcohol and other liquids, and have a hydrophobicity of level 4 or higher to avoid staining clothes and the human body. Avoid transmitting the virus carried by the patient’s blood, body fluids and other secretions to medical staff during the operation.

　　Microbial barrier properties include barriers to bacteria and viruses. The barrier to bacteria is mainly to prevent the contact transmission (and reverse transmission) of medical staff to the patient's surgical wound during the operation. The barrier to the virus is mainly to prevent medical staff from contacting the blood and body fluids of the patient, and the virus carried in it can cause cross-infection between doctors and patients.

　　Particulate matter barrier property refers to preventing viruses that spread through the air from being inhaled in the form of aerosol or attached to the surface of the skin to be absorbed by the body.

　　2. Comfort

　　Comfortability includes breathability, water vapor penetration, drape, quality, surface thickness, electrostatic properties, color, light reflection, odor and skin sensitization, etc. The most important thing is breathability and moisture permeability. In order to enhance the protective effect, protective clothing fabrics are usually laminated or laminated, resulting in heavy and poor breathability and moisture permeability. Long-term wearing is not conducive to perspiration and heat dissipation. The antistatic requirement is to prevent static electricity in the operating room from causing large amounts of dust and bacteria to be adsorbed on the patient’s wounds, and to prevent sparks generated by static electricity from detonating volatile gases in the operating room and affecting the accuracy of precision instruments.

　　3. Physical and mechanical properties

　　Physical and mechanical properties mainly refer to the tear resistance, puncture resistance and abrasion resistance of medical protective clothing materials. Avoid tears and punctures to provide channels for the spread of bacteria and viruses, and abrasion resistance can prevent flocculation and provide a place for bacteria and viruses to multiply.

　　4. Other properties

　　In addition to the properties listed above, medical protective clothing also needs to have disinfection resistance, good color fastness to washing, prevent shrinkage, non-combustible, non-toxic, non-irritating, and harmless to the skin.