AerosolVE Tent

Kevin Ward, MD

Ben Bassin, MD

Sridhar Kota, PhD

Nathan Haas, MD

David Hornick

Henrique Puls, MD

Shalini Kota, MS

“As we move past the surge and into the tail of COVID-19 at Michigan Medicine, it is vital that we discover innovative ways to provide high quality care and the safest way possible. I strongly believe that the AerosolVE Tent will be a tremendous asset to both the patients as well as the health system.”

— Philip J Choi, MD Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medical Director, Assisted Ventilation Clinic University of Michigan

Significant Need

Transmitted via respiratory droplets, the COVID-19 virus is highly contagious, placing healthcare workers at increased risk in the absence of adequate precautions. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly straining hospital and ICU resources, including ventilator utilization and negative pressure room allocation.

There is a demonstrated need to develop a novel system which is capable of protecting healthcare workers during aerosol generating procedures (AGP) to limit virus transmission as well as provide adequate and safe patient care. While numerous “intubation boxes” have been proposed to reduce risk associated with intubation, none solve the myriad of other issues that emergency and critical care health providers face.

Solution

To address this need, Weil Institute members collaborated with FlexSys, Inc. of Ann Arbor, MI to develop a portable negative pressure procedural tent that circulates and removes air—including droplets exhaled by the patient—through an attached vacuum motor and HEPA filter before being released into the room. Unique to this innovation is the additional application of multiple access points in the tent to allow a greater number of procedures than prior proposed solutions.

The structure is completely portable and allows real-time manipulation of the patient. It keeps the providers separated and protected from the virus, but also allows contact and support for procedures, mitigating the need for additional negative pressure rooms. The entire apparatus is disposable and single patient use, with the exception of the manifold base which can be cleaned and re-used.

Unique to this innovation is the additional application of multiple access points in the tent to allow a greater number of procedures than prior proposed solutions.

The tent keeps care providers separated and protected from the virus, but also allows contact and support for procedures, mitigating the need for additional negative pressure rooms.

The entire apparatus is disposable and single- patient use, with the exception of the manifold base which can be cleaned and re-used.

Clinical, nursing, and respiratory therapy staff found that not only did the tent not interfere with complex patient care, but it also gave them a greater level of comfort and safety while performing procedures.