COLUMBUS, Ohio – To help address the urgent need for additional personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers, The Ohio State University College of Engineering and College of Nursing Innovation Studio have implemented a system and method to provide 3-D printed visors with face shields to health care workers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James).

Face shields are recommended in patient-care settings that involve droplet protection precautions. Because COVID-19 spreads via the mucous membranes in the eyes, nose and mouth, it is recommended that certain health care workers wear face shields as part of their overall PPE while providing direct patient care.

The College of Engineering-led initiative has produced more than 2,000 fully assembled face shields since April 13, 2020, and expects to continue contributing the equipment to Ohio State’s central medical center supply chain until it is no longer needed.

The collaboration started from an existing research partnership between Karilyn Larkin, MD, a hematologist with the OSUCCC – James and assistant professor in the College of Medicine, and Carlos Castro, PhD, an associate professor in the College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE).

Like health care workers across the nation, Larkin and her colleagues were concerned about PPE shortages as the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in rapid depletion of supplies nationwide in March. She wondered if Ohio State engineers might be able to help, so on March 21 she asked the question and explained the need to her engineering research collaborator.

“The answer was ‘Yes’—Ohio State is full of collaborative people, and Carlos didn’t hesitate. He quickly secured support from college leadership, assembled a team and took action to figure out how the College of Engineering could do something to help health care workers, and do it quickly,” says Larkin, who treats leukemia patients at the OSUCCC – James.

Castro and College of Engineering MAE Department Chair Vish Subramaniam, PhD, assembled a design and manufacturing task force of experts across the College of Engineering to develop and execute a plan to produce face shields that could be utilized safely by health care workers. This involved creating a prototype design, sourcing materials, and identifying additional on-campus 3-D printing resources to increase production capacity. This included partners in the Engineering Education Department and Knowlton School of Architecture.

With guidance from Larkin, C. Castro, Subramaniam and the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center senior supply chain process engineer, the College of Engineering 3-D printing shops began making plastic visor prototypes and attaching clear face shield material. The College of Nursing Innovation Studio led laser cutting of the clear face shields.

Prototypes were presented to Ohio State’s Division of Epidemiology on March 30 and were approved for production with slight modifications.

“At that point, we felt optimistic we could make something that could help keep health care workers safe. The next challenge was ramping up production to meet the needs of our hospitals,” says C. Castro. “As revolutionary as it is, 3-D printing is not a very scalable approach in terms of time required and cost of materials.”

Mass-produced plastic products are primarily made by injection molding. The Department of Integrated Systems Engineering’s manufacturing lab, led by Professor Jose Castro, PhD, was engaged to mass produce the fully assembled face shields. The team is now capable of producing up to 400 face shields per day, some of which are being delivered to meet Columbus Public Health Department requests.

“This has been a true interdisciplinary team effort with important contributions from faculty and many staff members throughout many divisions, departments and colleges at Ohio State,” says Castro. “It sparked a realization within the College of Engineering that we could support our health care colleagues in even more ways.” Engineers at the Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence and the Institute for Materials Research recently began leading production of COVID-19 test kit nasal swabs for the state of Ohio.

Other universities are responding in a similar fashion, but each problem and solution are unique to their regions.

“Although the phrase ‘think globally, act locally’ is most often associated with environmental conservation, the actions it describes occur every day throughout the United States in the fight against COVID-19,” says C. Castro.

Complete information on ways to support health care workers and medical research is available at go.osu.edu/waystohelp. For more information about the College of Engineering, visit engineering.osu.edu.

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Media Contacts:
Amanda Harper, OSUCCC – James
614-685-5420 | Amanda.harper2@osumc.edu

Matt Schutte, College of Engineering
614-247-6445| schutte.9@osu.edu