The World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) have issued a set of guidelines for ophthalmologists caring for patients potentially infected with the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
In line with these organisations, Haag-Streit Diagnostics (HSD) has recommended the use of breath shields to help protect eyecare professionals, and their patients, when using a slit lamp. These work in addition to face masks, goggles and other protective equipment.
HSD has created a free template to enable clinicians to create a larger breath shield themselves, inexpensively. This template works in conjunction with the original breath protecting shield and is suitable for use with BQ 900, BP 900, BI 900 and BM 900 slit lamps.
The free template is available to download online at https://hsuk.co/breathshieldtemplate, with a different template created for each slit lamp model.
The company has also created page dedicated to useful Covid-19 resources, including instructions for cleaning and disinfecting equipment: https://www.haag-streit.com/index.php?id=4049
