COOL SURGEONS

During surgery, surgeons can become hot and sweaty. This can be stressful and affect a surgeon’s ability to concentrate. NTNU master’s student Ragnhild Nesbakken has developed a cooling vest for surgeons for her master’s project. The vest has cooling agents made from a material that changes its phase from solid to liquid when skin temperatures exceed 28 degrees Celsius. The cooling elements have been incorporated in the back of the vest and in the centre of the chest, which are regions that generate a great amount of heat. The cooling elements are linked together in strips, which makes the vest very flexible. The strips can easily be replaced, and the fabric is good at transferring both moisture and heat. The vest has been tested during surgery at St Olavs Hospital in Trondheim, and feedback from the surgeon was positive. Nesbakken’s master’sthesis was written at the Department of Product Design in cooperation with the Department of Work Physiology and Microbial Exposure at SINTEF Health.