Electrostatic charging of hospital personnel and patients during various activities increases the risk of electrostatic discharge (ESD) malfunctions of medical devices and the likelihood of patients’ adverse events. Therefore, the test level for ESD immunity of medical devices, specified in the IEC 60601-1-2 standard needs to reflect the reasonably maximum electrostatic voltages during usage. This study investigated the effects of material combinations and relative humidity on the body voltage while performing two routine clinical activities of lying down on a hospital bed and transferring to a bed using a sliding board. The peak body voltages in nearly 50% of the lying down experiments and 40% of sliding tests exceeded the test voltage level in the IEC 60601-1-2 standard (i.e., 15 kV). Using cotton blankets in lying down experiments and nylon sheets during sliding experiments resulted in 50% and 40% larger median than the median including all combinations, respectively. Sliding boards with antistatic coating reduced the peak body voltage by 24% on average, however, 33% of the tests still exceeded 15 kV. Based on the findings, recommendations are provided for healthcare facilities and medical device manufacturers to mitigate the risks of ESD malfunctions.

中文翻译：

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医院活动和材料组合引起的人体静电充电

医院工作人员和患者在各种活动中的静电充电会增加医疗设备静电放电 (ESD) 故障的风险和患者发生不良事件的可能性。因此，IEC 60601-1-2 标准中规定的医疗设备 ESD 抗扰度测试级别需要反映使用过程中合理的最大静电电压。本研究调查了材料组合和相对湿度对身体电压的影响，同时进行两项常规临床活动，即躺在病床上和使用滑板转移到床上。近 50% 的卧式实验和 40% 的滑动测试中的峰值体电压超过了 IEC 60601-1-2 标准中的测试电压水平（即 15 kV）。在躺下实验中使用棉毯和在滑动实验中使用尼龙布导致中位数分别比包括所有组合在内的中位数大 50% 和 40%。带有抗静电涂层的滑板平均降低了 24% 的峰值体电压，然而，33% 的测试仍然超过 15 kV。根据调查结果，为医疗机构和医疗设备制造商提供了降低 ESD 故障风险的建议。