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Openhouse Case Studies
The Openhouse Vanguard Patient Overnight Bag has been designed using our latest micrAgard™ wipe clean fabric with an inner silver micrAgard™ lining. micrAgard™ gives the product a high quality, hard wearing and durable feel.
Sutton Homes of Care has launched a brilliantly simple initiative to help people living in Sutton care homes receive quick and effective treatment should they need to go into hospital in an emergency.
The “Red Bag” keeps important information about a care home resident’s health in one place, easily accessible to ambulance and hospital staff.
In collaboration with Halfords, Openhouse have produced a comprehensive Cycle Response Unit package, with numerous combinations of bikes and accessories available to provide a the perfect option for on the go medical treatment in otherwise less accessible areas.
Combining the vast experience Halfords bring from the bicycle market with Openhouse’s years of textile design and manufacturing knowledge means we are able to provide a market leading solution for Cycle Response teams.
The Tite Operational Pelvic Splint (TOPS) has been designed to reduce and stabilise pelvic fractures and is able to be slid under the patient easily due to its stiffened construction, making it perfect for pre-hospital use.
Stabilisation prior to moving a patient with a pelvic fracture is essential to reduce the chances of exacerbation of injury and increase the chances of survival.
Manufactured in micrAgard, the splint is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and water resistant to reduce the risk of infection. As the TOPS splint is X-Ray compatible, there is no need to remove the splint for an X-Ray, vastly reducing the the chances of further injury.
With double loops for fitting, the same splint can be used for most patients. The foldable design means the TOPS splint also fits in trauma bags for easy transportation.
Birmingham Community Healthcare had seen an increase in incidents through the trust mainly from nursing staff who had suffered musculoskeletal injuries whilst carrying equipment to and from patients homes in the community. A review was undertaken by staff in various teams and it was identified that there was no consistent approach to the bags used across the trust, various shapes, sizes and materials were used which increased the risk of injury and added to issues around infection control.
An audit was undertaken of the equipment carried by staff and it was identified that Staff with larger bags would overload and carry more items that required, this increasing the weight and size of the bag.
- Staff would carry all items with them on each visit rather than unload.
- Some of the bags used were too small – resulting in items being carried by hand.
- Staff were concerned that the bags used “looked like nursing bags” so wanted something more discrete.
- Staff have to carry separate laptop and clinical bags.
- Many of the older bags where made from materials that harvested bacteria and difficult to clean.
Openhouse’s unique material MicrAgaurd™ has ensured the trust is complaint with infection control guidelines. One of the major benefits of this project is the consistency across the trust helping with training and development. Staff who have received the new bags have expressed how much better they are in the teams and prefer them to the other bags used and the weight of the equipment carried has been reduced.
After working with Openhouse, Birmingham Community Care used a number of ideas to develop a bag that would meet the needs of all the teams and be large enough to carry the items they require on a day to day basis, without the additional space to overload the bags. A solution was designed to allow staff to pick and choose what part of the bag they needed, rather than taking all items in one go. This involves a Scales Bag and Observation Bag which attach together allowing items to be carried efficiently.
The Trolley Bag has been designed allowing users to be able to carry their required equipment to and from homes efficiently, reducing the risk of injury. The Trolley Bag has been created to be hard wearing and reliable for users as it is made from a lightweight rigid frame for strength and durability. The Trolley Bag is equipt with a grab handle on the side, to encourage two handed lifting and also an extending metal handle for when on the move. The inside the trolley is divided by a shelf and is supplied with two pouches to help you organised additional items, the pouches are clear topped allowing the contents inside to be visible and identified when needed.
This product is made to order and so pouches and configuration of trolley can be altered for your requirements, The trolley can be made in a variety of our 8 MicrAgard™ colours.
The Trolley Bag is designed to be used with the Observation Bag and Scales Bag working together efficiently lightening workloads for any users. All three designs are compatible with each other. The Observation Kit Bag and or Scales Bag can be used with the trolley to mimimise the risk of lifting injuries.
CAERvest is a new core temperature cooling medical vest, which helps to reduce the temperature of a patient who has suffered from either a cardiac arrest or heat stroke. Openhouse currently supply medical covers for CAERvest which help keep the device clean, safely stored and easy to transport.
CAERvest is a medical breakthrough and can help to immediately induce rapid, early therapeutic hypothermia in cardiac arrest patients in order to reduce tissue damage following a loss of blood perfusion after cardiac arrest, especially in the brain, which is highly sensitive to hypoxia. Any further neurological injury can be significantly reduced if used correctly and in time.
In a recent medical emergency, the CAERvest was put into action with a patient’s temperature being reduced considerably in the critical journey from the scene to the hospital, all thanks to this new technology. The device was initially developed to reduce the core temperature to a rate of at least 1°C in the first hour, yet in this particular case the lifesaving vest cooled the patient by 1.6°C in 22 minutes, helping to stabilise them and reduce further medical injury. The vest can be used on adult patients and pregnant women and can be activated in under a minute.
To find out more about CAERvest, click here.
Openhouse worked closely with Sabre17 to design and manufacture the Sabre Scout Bag – an intelligently tailored security operator’s bag that is equipped and ready for close protection professionals and acts like a shield if attacked by a knife or spike thanks to its slash proof properties (Home Office Approved).
Made in our micrAgard material, the Sabre Scout Bag is anti-microbial, fluid repellent, impact and fire resistant as well as meeting all aviation standards. Its inner silver lining allows contents to be more easily seen and located. Various inner fixtures were required such as places to store maps, an iPad, a radio, cables, a water bottle, etc. which we at Openhouse have delivered.
To find out more about the Sabre Scout Bag, click here.
The Crime Scene Examiners kit Backpack has been designed specifically to help organisations conform with the standards outlined in the ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation.
The bag is made using MicrAgard™ Plus wipe clean material, which is exclusive to Openhouse and extremely robust, it was developed for primary use within the EMT industry, but has proven to lend itself perfectly to a forensics application. The material is available in 8 colours, visit our website for more information.
Every effort has been made to ensure raw materials do not attract DNA, the press stud retainer has a smooth plastic back on both sides and the webbing is wipe clean, in addition to being treated with a water resistant coating.
The consecutive numbers printed in the corner of each bag ensure staff tractability. The bags backpack straps can be unbuckled and stored flat in the back pocket keeping them tidy, and avoiding them making contact on scene.
When the bag is deployed as a standard piece of kit across a force is ensures total consistency and makes training/cleaning standards an easier task to manage.
Barry is the idea of Chris Jarratt from Bariquins who, in his final year of his Product Design degree and about to start his business innovation module, decided to investigate what was currently available for training to manually handle bariatric/plus-size patients.
Chris approached Openhouse to create a Bariquin, or ‘Barry’ as he is now known. Barry is a training mannequin that weighs 25 stone (that’s 350lbs or 159kgs) yet he can be carried by an individual when dismantled.
The main benefit of the Bariquin is that it doesn’t require a team of trained people to haul the mannequin to and from the training area, nor does it need filling with water and emptying later. Each Barry is made up of 15 weighted parts, a jacket and a realistic head, hands and feet. His heaviest component is designed to be less than 16kgs, and also includes two handles stitched securely into the more substantial parts to make them easier to carry.
Openhouse Products designed and manufactured Barry the Bariatric mannequin alongside Bariatric Training Mannequins Ltd – what can we do for you? Get in touch today.
To find out more about Barry, click here.
Openhouse Products, working with the North London Critical Care Network (NWLCCN) have developed the Critical Care Patient Transfer bag to deliver standardised equipment and quick ‘at a glance’ checking to support front line staff when transferring critically ill patients.
The patient transfer bag delivers standardised equipment and ‘at a glance’ checking capability to support front line staff when transferring critically ill patients.
The bag was designed with human factors at the forefront and facilitates quick and easy access during a transfer. Clinical staff no longer have to carry the bag when managing patients as it is easily attaches on to hospital and ambulance beds and trolleys.
This bag opens up to present users with colour coded and clearly labelled modules for quick access. The modules have an ‘open book’ design and clear panels to enable easy identification of required items and reduce checking time. Each module has been designed to hold the standardised transfer content for the individual category e.g. Advanced Airway.
In order to reduce the volume of equipment carried on a transfer we have added a clear patient pocket, specifically designed to carry items relating to the individual patient being transferred. A widespread and comprehensive consensus (published) used the expertise and Hi experience of many clinicians to safely reduce the volume of transfer equipment carried.
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