3D Printing is Providing Frontline Workers with Much Needed Medical Equipment

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals and workers on the front lines continue to have a hard time accessing the medical equipment that they need. Coronavirus is still rapidly spreading, but in the fight to combat it, businesses are turning to 3D printing as a hopeful fix to help medical workers gain access to more supplies.

Local businesses, universities and even hobbyists having started to 3D printing supplies that are in high demand. Between faces shields, respirator masks, ventilator parts, nasal swabs and more, 3D printers have been creating items in an effort to help health care workers in the fight against COVID-19.

Ramon Pastor, President of 3D Printing and Digital Manufacturing for HP said, "3D printing actually has the capability to react very, very quickly — in terms of hours you can go from idea, to design, to prototype, to produce."

3D Printing is a promising technology in trying to ease the medical supply crisis because of its ability to print a long list of products that are needed. HP alone has printed tens of thousands of supplies including face shields, masks and even door handles you can open with your elbow to avoid touching the handles with your hands.

Although 3D printing can quickly provide tools to help frontline workers combat coronavirus, there are limitations on how far it can go. Some hospitals have embraced the technology to increase their supplies, but some still raise concern regarding the safety of equipment such as parts for ventilators. Hospital leaders are not always comfortable using these 3D printed products. The FDA has raised caution to the 3D printed parts and the government has only approved a small portion of the 3D-priting devices so far.

"While the FDA understands that 3D printing may occur to provide wider availability of devices during the COVID-19 public health emergency," the agency notes on its website, "some devices are more amenable to 3D printing than others."

Although there may be limitations on some devices, within the 3D printing and parts of the medical communities, there remains a positive outlook. There is a sense of community as Schools, universities, individuals and more are all trying to do their part. Even competing businesses are joining forces to intensify the production of the medical equipment.

An example of one such alliance is called the Covid Makers Response.  The group consists of Tangible Creative, MakerBot and Columbia University. The group is printing approximately 2,000 face shields a day, which are then picked up when ready, assembled, and sent to over 30 area hospitals.

The Covid Makers Response is just one example of a movement where large and small businesses are shifting their focus to producing medical supplies. Automakers are making ventilators, tech firms are making face shields and masks, and beer distributors are making hand sanitizer.

"One of the really incredible things that's happened over the entire time scale of the crisis is this incredible community," said Anthony Costa, Professor at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital network. "They have done it at sort of a crowd-sourced level. Everyone who has a 3D printer in their basement, all the way to the prototyping facilities that we work with throughout the city, have all retooled all of their resources to make sure that we get to components that can have an impact."

3D Printing companies recognize they can’t be a substitute for traditional manufacturing. However the speed in which they can manufacture materials to help during the crisis has proven very effective.

"It allows you to move very quickly and so it allows you to fill those short-term supply chain gaps ... and obviously that's what this is," said Greg Kessler, CEO of 3D printing company Shapeways. "That's why 3D printing is a very good solution during these times."

3D printed items can be produced easily and quickly, and that is why much of the printing efforts have focused on face shields.

"Typically, as long as face shields fit comfortably and snugly across the forehead, are long enough to cover one's facemask but not so long that they bump against the provider's upper chest when looking down, and the plastic shield is clear and easy to see through, then the shield is good to go," said Jeanne Noble, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of Coronavirus Response at the University of California, San Francisco medical center.

Some parts are a little more complicated than a face shield. For example, items like ventilators and masks are tougher to design because they often require approval from the FDA.

"As you move up the risk scale, senior leadership starts to get involved to better understand, what risk are we really putting patients at? And certainly for something like a ventilator, you know, a life-sustaining device, we're not just going to get a part from a store and implement it, we're not simply going to 3D print something and not study it." said Costa.

The FDA released guidance that cautioned that while 3D-printed materials do provide a physical barrier, they may not be able to keep out smaller airborne or liquid particles as effectively. According to the FDA website, "3D-printed masks may look like conventional PPE. However, they may not provide the same level of barrier protection, fluid resistance, filtration, and infection control."

Along with this guidance, a spokesperson for the FDA said that they have formed a partnership with the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs to assess 3D printed designs.  Through this partnership, only one face mask and eight face shields were approved for clinical use. There are four masks that are approved for community use.

"We are willing to be flexible and adapt to this pandemic, so that we can get essential medical devices to those in need," the spokesperson said. "As long as data supports the application, we are authorizing these products quickly."

Though there is a level of complexity to it, some hospitals are continuing with 3D printed supplies. There is the potential that a large amount of 3D printers could help in the coronavirus battle. According to a report by the Federation of American Scientists, approximately 600,000 3D printers sold at a price of under $5,000 were sold in the U.S. in 2018.  With Tangible Creative, HP and Shapeways all making their design files available online, the possibility of a large about of 3D printed medical supplies being created is promising.

Eugene Chang, Tangible’s co-founder and industrial design director said "It's not like you need a mold.  You have this digital file and you can just send it to people, and they can hit print, just like how you send an email and can print it out on a 2D printer."

Costa notes that more advanced equipment would require industrial grade printers. The same FAS report notes that 140,000 of those were sold worldwide. 

Once testing hurdles are cleared, 3D printing firms can move into mass production very soon. According to Pastor, he said HP has the ability to produce 1 million coronavirus testing swabs a week in the United States alone. "Even building a new 3D printing factory is actually a question of weeks," he said. "You can react within weeks and actually double, triple, quadruple your capacity if you want to."

Story via CNN