Jan 11 2008
To help address infection control during everyday hospital operations and minimize risks during times of health crisis, DuPont™ Corian® solid surface has been selected by the Washington (D.C.) Hospital Center for its emergency department. The product also recently was incorporated into a children’s ward at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
Washington Hospital Center is using the technology as part of its vision to build ER One, which will be an all-risks-ready emergency care facility, created to provide emergency medical care during acts of terrorism and emerging illness and built to function fully as a hospital emergency department during daily operations. The current phase of the project, entitled “Bridge to ER One,” will test these new innovations and technologies.
“Our DuPont innovations are designed to provide solutions that protect lives,” said Tom Schuler, vice president and general manager, DuPont Building Innovations. “Corian® is one of our products that uniquely meets both the stringent safety specifications of the healthcare industry as well as the aesthetic demands of healthcare designers.”
The 2006 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Healthcare Facilities has defined the 18 preferred characteristics of the ideal healthcare surface to help facilitate improved infection control. Corian® meets all 18 of these characteristics, including being nonporous, seamless, durable and not supporting microbial growth when cleaned properly.
DuPont™ Corian® donated a total of 193 sheets and 17 sinks made of the solid surface material to this phase of the ER One project. Corian® was utilized for selected areas of the emergency department, including patient room wall-cladding, nurses’ stations surfacing, lobby chair rails, bathroom shower stalls and integrated sinks/vanities.
“Corian® was selected for the Bridge to ER One because it is a seamless, easy-to-clean surface material ideally suited for healthcare environments,” said Dr. Mark Smith, chairman of Emergency Medicine at Washington Hospital Center. “There is solid evidence that contaminated surfaces contribute to the spread of infections. Eliminating grout lines and crevices through the use of Corian® remove a potential source of microbial contamination from the patient care unit.”