Good afternoon hive mind, said would ask on here. Wife is itu doctor and they have discovering is really hard communicate wearing full PPE. Currently using white boards and laminated sheets with set phrases on but we were wondering if is better way. They have some walkie talkies but not enough and cleaning / charging / allocation all complicating factors.
Anyone got any bright ideas? Have thought of motorbike intercoms but not sure how practical. Something to amplify speech, can’t use something need push buttons to activate. I’m lost, thought someone here may know of a way.
Needs be easily cleaned and maintained.
Thanks.

Edit to say: We when used full external air suits (handling HF) we didn’t find a better way than have a sheet of instructions and pointing to each one if the hand gestures were not sufficient, plus how do you clean the unit between users?

And we had a massive budget for these things.

BSL?

Thanks guys – will be showing her all suggestions. Looks like may have resources from local uni at disposal, including 3d printing if anything need make up. I think the main issue is if doing procedure / putting in lines hands are occupied so hard to indicate / sign.
Simplest would be have a spare staff member ‘runner’ able to do comms but staffing at premium so don’t think have spares.

Don’t think radios will work, you’d need too many people on th same channels to make it useful and just end up talking over each other.

Mobile phones, using headphones sets, the microphones if positioned right should pickup the talking through the masks. Get everyone onto some sort of group chat?

Providing they don’t cause interference with the medical equipment that is,and signal can be obtained in the building.

I’ve spent plenty of time flying/in simulators on oxygen masks and communication is a nightmare. The best thing by far is realising that it is a problem, cutting out all extraneous chatter, and communicate in pro-words rather than sentences. For example. “Scalpel – tube” instead “please pass me the scalpel, and after that can I have that tube”

Even if they get intercoms, my advice above still stands.

Mobiles are out unfortunately, they not allowed take them into units now due to covid staying around so long in stuff.
I think main issue is emergency stuff trying get extra kit etc.
Will suggest they maybe agree a list of single word requests like you say Dan, and what they mean, so more chance if shout 1 thing it is understood. Like a verbal shortcut – suppose could have laminated list inside bedspace and outside and shout for no. 1 or whatever and they can interpret?

Hard. At work we always discussed the plan before the job then limited it to quite simple commands. Hierarchy helped to, so knowing who was in charge and what jobs people had. Complex communication meant ducking out and discussing it but that was always a simple job as it was a hazardous atmosphere (chemicals) and simple to remove yourself and then PPE without contamination.

In kayaking you use river signals as you can’t communicate over the distances because of the noise of water. Limited to basic/essential commands though. Could use some sort of sign language, depends what the communication is.

wearing full PPE.

What exactly is the PPE? I presume it doesn’t include ear defenders. If the problem is the masks used impede the ability to talk clearly rather than hear then amplifying muffled speech maybe isn’t a solution. It seems like cutting out surplus noise and conversation and having clear agreed instructions would be a better solution than having the distractions of gadgets.

PPE is face mask and visor over top so hard project voice for a lot of them. Background noise of ventilator, monitors, suction, pumps alarming and the other 7 patients in the bay with the same.
I’m leaning towards saying get some agreement on short code/ words for specific tasks/ kit and a way to interpret for those doing the fetching and helping.

Absolutely. I used to teach radio comms, and short, punchy phrases win every time. If the recipient misses the first 2 words of a sentence they miss the whole thing. Teaching silence unless necessary too.

I work in an industry where high noise levels and the need for dexterity can be an issue. Generally it’s overcome by voice activated microphones and headsets, with different teams working on separate channels to avoid chatter.

That being said, I’ve never struggled to communicate using a fp2/fp3 disposable mask (in no way meaning to diminish your other half’s experience).

I think the post above nails it for this situation. Short, punchy and direct instruction (where possible using pre-agreed phrases) and absolutely encouraging silence where possible.

Given the additional PPE and the need for folk to get used to communicating in a different situation, simple is maybe best in this instance. It took a long time to effectively implement radio working across multiple and common channels.

If dry wipe boards with pre printed answers on it is an option. That would be easy for us to make. Easy to clean after use and does not require any tech to go wrong or run out of battery..

TroutWrestler
Member

BSL?

It’s called Brammer Buck & Hickman these days 🙂

I might be talking nonsense, but staff in Lidl seem to be able to talk to each other via an earpiece/mic that they all wear. I don’t remember seeing them pressing a button to talk. Not sure how it works or what the kit is, but it may be a simple case of looking/asking while in a Lidl

I can imagine the difficulty trying to communicate with a patient as deaf as my Dad while wearing a mask, he lip reads much more than we realised..