Thermo-physiological behavior of single use scrub suits using a thermal manikin

Abstract

In operationg room, the health professionals are exposed to stress situations that can influence their physical and psychological performance. The thermal properties are an important requirement for the best performance of OR medical clothing, that plays a crucial role in thermal comfort of the user, that involve the regulation of heat and mass transfer between a clothed body and the environment. This study evaluates thermal comfort of medical clothing under specified conditions. Twelve types of non-woven single-use scrub suits were tested. The experiments were conducted on a thermal dry manikin that simulates human body to measure the heat loss from manikin surface and determine clothing thermal insulation The total clothing insulation, IT (m2.°C/W), is used to define the insulation from the skin surface to the environment. Thermal insulation of scrub suits show statisticaly significant differences between them. SS7 and SS9 have the the lower and higuer values of total isolation of 0.23 m2.°C/W and 0.14 m2.°C/W, respectively.