When physicians stay calm and focused, good things happen.
There are few places on earth that can match the pressure of an operating room. It’s an environment where intense focus and attention to every detail are absolute musts.
Distractions are unwelcome, and unfortunately, there is no shortage of them. One such issue that consistently presents itself is the very real threat of heat stress. Because physicians are frequently called upon to stand under a bank of hot operating lights for hours at a time, they can often find their optimal body temperature compromised, making it challenging to maintain the peak mental and physical performance necessary for their profession.
That needn’t be the case, however. Because to help mitigate the effects of heat stress, Glacier TekTM has developed a cooling vest – a self-contained, lightweight personal cooling system – to keep the wearer comfortable while working in harsh or challenging environments. From a physician’s perspective, the result is a simple but critical one: Glacier Tek Cool Vests enable them to remain cool, calm and focused on delivering the best possible outcome to their patients.
The need for improving physician comfort and patient outcomes
With about 99 million combined inpatient and outpatient surgeries in the U.S. each year, physicians and support staff face discomfort from overheating on a constant basis. The nation’s 18,000 surgeons and 100,000 operating room personnel endure bright lights, sterile gowns, lead aprons, physical exertion and time stress as they perform high-intensity procedures.
Simply turning down the temperature in the operating room isn’t an ideal solution for the patient, either. Research indicates that overly cool ORs can lead to experiencing greater blood loss, longer recovery times, and vulnerability to post-surgical, hospital-acquired infections. Even when patients are warmed with forced air, body temperatures decrease during the first hour of surgery, leading to hypothermic patients who are more likely to require blood transfusions.
Which is why the Glacier Tek Cool Vest is the perfect solution for surgeons and operating room staff, allowing for unencumbered freedom of movement while helping them stay alert and focused during long, physically demanding procedures and surgeries.
How Glacier Tek Cool Vests work
While other cooling vests rely on less than ideal methods like ice, evaporation or even expensive tethered circulating systems that heavily restrict mobility in order to help maintain a comfortable body temperature, Glacier Tek takes a different approach. Each of the Glacier Tek Cool Vests include a set of GlacierPacks – cooling packs that are manufactured using the only phase change material on the market to carry the USDA Certified BioPreferred label. This means the packs are free from hazardous ingredients or materials, giving Glacier Tek Cool Vests the distinction of being the only cooling vests on the market that are completely safe for the wearer as well as the environment, making them ideal for use in health care applications.
The patented Phase Change Material (PCM) used in Glacier Tek’s Cool Vests is superior to water-based personal cooling solutions in several ways. Worn around the body’s core in an easy-on, easy-off vest without tubes or tethers, Glacier Tek Cool Vests cool the body safely to a comfortable temperature. Water freezes at a low 32°F/0°C, which is too cold to be exposed to bare (or even thinly-covered) skin for more than a few minutes. But the PCM used in Glacier Tek Cool Vests turns to a frozen solid at 59°F/15°C, a perfect temperature to bring relief. It also avoids the uncomfortable wetness caused by water condensation.
Cool Vests for the medical community
Flex Vest
Designed to provide cooling comfort in unpleasantly warm conditions, the Flex Vest is styled to look like everyday casual wear, with 12 cooling packs that tuck discreetly into specially designed pockets. An expanded range of sizes provides increased comfort and a more customized fit.
Concealable Cool Vest
With adjustable sizing that makes ordering easy, the Concealable Cool Vest fits easily under lab coats, scrubs or gowns and provides increased privacy and mobility while maintaining a cool and comfortable temperature.
Disposable Cool Vest
Developed to assist those providing aid during the Ebola crisis, the Disposable Cool Vest was designed for limited use and can be easily disposed in a common landfill. The durable GlacierPacks are reusable, and the ultra-lightweight garment means increased stamina.
The GlacierPacks
After charging for as little as 20 minutes in ice and water, GlacierPacks will remain at a comfortable 59°F/15°C for up to two and a half hours in 100°F/38°C heat. Additionally, the packs can be reused indefinitely. In fact, GlacierPacks have been recharged 10,000 times in Glacier Tek’s lab with no measurable change in performance.
Overall benefits of Glacier Tek Cool Vests
GlacierPacks
• Recharge in just 20 minutes in ice and water, an hour in the freezer or a few hours in the average refrigerator (basically anything colder than 59°F/15°C).
• Contain no hazardous ingredients. The packs can be safely disposed in a landfill.
• Can be easily cleaned, sanitized and reused indefinitely. In fact, GlacierPacks have been recharged 10,000 times in Glacier Tek’s lab with no measurable change in performance.
• Manufactured using 100% bio-based phase change material which has higher efficiency than salt hydrates and petroleum-based PCMs.
• Proudly made in the USA.
Vest
• Durable (made from sturdy fabrics) and lightweight (weighs about four pounds with cooling packs) and depending on model, disposable (bio-based products are environmentally friendly).
• Maintains a dry, comfortable 59°F/15°C for approximately two and a half hours in 100ºF/38ºC heat, whereas ice or gel based systems are too cold at 32°F/0°C or less.
• Operates effectively in enclosed environments and underneath protective garments (unlike water-soaked evaporative products which fail in these environments). It is self-contained, portable and unpowered, containing no cumbersome hoses, tubes or tethers.
• Proudly made in the USA.
There’s no such thing as having too much life- improving technology in a hospital
Retailing from $189 to $279, Glacier Tek Cool Vests are available in several varieties to help ensure a perfect fit, and can be easily worn over or under other garments.
Each set of removable GlacierPacks are manufactured to stay cool for up to two and a half hours in 100° heat, with some users reporting up to four hours of cooling in their operating room conditions. Once the packs are spent, they can quickly and easily be replaced by fresh ones if needed. The reusable, durable packs are rechargeable in ice water and are ready for reuse in 20 minutes. The vest itself is washable or disposable (depending on variety), and the cooling packs are easy to sanitize. Glacier Tek even developed a special disposable Cool Vest for situations of elevated sanitation protocol, for use by workers on the frontlines of epidemic crises.
Lightweight and easy to use, completely non-toxic, and with unmatched ease of movement, Glacier Tek Cool Vests are the perfect solution to the problems of overheating that many surgeons and operating room staff often face.
About Glacier Tek
Glacier Tek is focused on helping manage body temperatures in extreme environments through high-tech garments that help defend the wearer from heat stress. We manufacture a selection of cooling vests that feature Phase Change Material (PCM) technology, a thermal energy storage material that is designed to absorb heat generated by the wearer and offers better safety and cooling duration than that of evaporative, ice, or gel-cooled vests. Founded by a military veteran, our products are 100 percent made in the USA.
Our first product, The Original Cool Vest, was among the earliest completely self-contained body cooling vests available on the market; it is now sold in over a dozen countries.
Our mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of people who are exposed to temperature extremes at work or play. We do this by providing safe, effective and environmentally responsible products designed to safely help maintain a normal core body temperature in a variety of environments. Our natural, renewable thermal energy storage products simultaneously provide comfort for people in need, while reducing the use of hazardous chemicals in the world and maintaining our ecological principles.
For more information about Glacier Tek, visit www.glaciertek.com or call 321-752-4130.