May 18, 2012

You are here: Home / Featured / A simple bio-hazard solution for your phone

A simple bio-hazard solution for your phone

July 29, 2011 By 5 Comments

One of the biggest concerns voiced to me in regards to using smart-phones in the field is bio-hazard. As EMS providers our gloves and hands come in contact with a lot of blood and bacteria, and our phones can be giant storage areas for all that nasty stuff. For some people, it’s a deal breaker and it shouldn’t have to be. So to solve this, I thought up a simple, but effective solution. All I did was place my phone inside a sandwich bag and fold it back to fit the phone. It doesnt interfere with the touch screen at all and it isolates the device from blood and other bio-hazardous fluids.

As you can see from the image below, the Droid X easily fits into a standard zip-lock bag.

I folded the bag around the back of the phone and taped it down with standard medical tape so the phone can still easily fit in my pocket.

And as you can see in the picture below, the bag does not interfere with the responsiveness of the touch-screen.

This isn’t a perfect solution, but it works. Having your phone in the bag means you can’t talk on it and you can’t take pictures, but if your not using your phone at all due to bio-hazard concerns, then this should work for you.

If you happen to know of any other solutions, or have tried any products that solve this problem, please e-mail me or comment below.


Filed Under: Featured, Tips, Tutorials
  • http://www.facebook.com/zock.at Tobias Schmidt

    I work with a side aproach. Left side pockets are only accessed with clean hands, right side pockets and items may be accessed after patient contact. 
    Hands contaminated with bodyfluids stay out of pockets – or gearbags. 

    Phone, mints, cigs go left and thus won’t get in contact with contaminated hands.

    Most phones can withstand being wiped with non alcoholic disinfectants like biguanides. My hero does, so it gets wiped after shift.

  • Anonymous

    I bought the lifeproof case for my iPhone… Drop proof and water proof so it can survive being at work and getting cleaned w sanazide if I get anything really nasty on it

    • http://www.medicmadness.com Sean Eddy

      Do you know if it’s available for Android phones?

  • http://everydayemstips.com Greg Friese

    Sean, I have two thoughts:

    1) I generally like the approach of 1 medic touches the patient and 1 medic touches the monitor, toughbook, etc. 

    2) How is the touch screen sensitivity when you add in gloves? 

    I use the ziploc bag when I store my phone in my cycling jersey pockets. The bag is enough to keep the phone dry from perspiration and rainfall. 

  • http://twitter.com/emtgirl Renee Roberts

    My right-side front pocket is for my phone and only my phone.

    Although it isn’t improving the fluid resistance of my phone in terms of the edges of the screen, I have an Invisible Shield (Made by Zagg) on it. I installed the “wet” version, which holds much better than the more simple to apply “dry” version.

    BUT, I also work regularly in austere settings, since my company is a provider of standby EMS at events (Our niche in this world). We work in all weather situations, so I have a freezer ziploc-type bag with me (They are thicker plastic and the seams are generally more water-resistant), and a clear dry sack (Purchased at REI). I have had failure of the ziploc bag before, on a wet day. My old phone (A Blackberry) got a little wet. I used the rice trick to dry it out (sans battery). I also have an Innocase protector on my phone (More bumper guard than anything, but it fits snug).

    The dry sack is for days I *KNOW* are wet days, or I know I will be on or at water-lines (lakes, rivers, etc). My phone (HTC Inspire) works fine through both, and I can make calls with them. Sounds are a little muffled, but still works.

    BTW, I usually have someone else making a call if I am working on a patient. I have even had them grab my phone out of my pocket to do it if they didn’t have one. I usually don’t mess with my phone when I am hands-on with my patient. If I do need my phone, I doff my gloves, use it, then put on a fresh pair of gloves.