A new product called Arc Sterile from IMEX brings purified, surgical quality air to just about any environment. The portable system can be easily wheeled and quickly setup over a surgical table, turning any room into an OR. It features HEPA filters to clean the air and fans that sweep the environment free of unwanted particles.
I’ve talked before about my favorite medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy. In the show, there always seems to be a shortage of operating rooms. This leaves the doctors having to wait until a room opens up, every minute that passes putting their patient in grave danger of not making it, and thus adding to the drama. If real life hospital situations are anything like this show, an Arc Sterile would come in handy as doctors trapped in a stuck elevator attempt to bravely save their dying patient by doing a heart surgery with nothing to work with but their bare hands and a couple of tools that the other doctors are able to slip through a small crack between the elevator doors which they have managed to pry open. (That is, provided someone had the foresight to strategically store an Arc Sterile in a secret compartment in the elevator ahead of time.) OK- well hopefully reality would be a bit more realistic. Nonetheless, it is still a valuable idea.