The “Intubox”: Enhancing Frontline Healthcare Worker Safety During Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 12; no. 6; p. e8530
• Main Authors: Motara, Feroza, Laher, Abdullah E, Du Plessis, Jana, Moolla, Muhammed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Palo Alto Cureus Inc 09.06.2020; Cureus
• Subjects: Airway management; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Design; Emergency medical care; Emergency Medicine; Emergency preparedness; Epidemics; Guillain-Barre syndrome; Infections; Infectious Disease; Intubation; Medical personnel; Pandemics; Patients; Personal protective equipment; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Suctioning; Ventilators; Workers; South Africa
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.8530

There has been a substantial burden of healthcare worker infection during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, likely due to a lack of adequate preparedness, suboptimal institutional infection control measures, atypical patient presentation, poor compliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) and exposure to high-risk aerosol generating procedures, such as endotracheal intubation. There is significant concern that developing countries will face heightened levels of staff exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic. To mitigate this exposure risk during procedures, such as endotracheal intubation, various “aerosol boxes” have been designed by frontline healthcare workers. However, in practice these boxes were found to hamper endotracheal intubation and other procedures due to the limited space and manoeuvrability they allow. To further reduce particle dispersion and to improve on the practicality and ergonomic design of the prototype “aerosol box”, the Intubox was developed by staff at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital after instituting several changes to the prototype design.