On November 16, the "Portable Splash Shield" developed by Assistant Professor TSUKAHARA Kohei of the Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Okayama University Hospital, was selected for the Excellence Award in the 2022 "Fire Fighting Disaster Prevention Science and Technology Award (General Category : Development / Improvement of Fire Fighting Disaster Prevention Equipment) from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the award ceremony was held at Mitaka City Public Hall (Tokyo, Japan).
　
The award was presented to "Research on Portable Aerosol Shield for Emergency Medical Transport," a lightweight, easily portable shield developed and commercialized jointly with HIVIX Corporation to protect paramedics on the front lines of emergency medical care from aerosols and droplets containing viruses caused by the Corona Disaster.
　
Assistant Professor Tsukahara attended the award ceremony and received a certificate of commendation from Fire and Disaster Management Agency Commissioner MAEDA Kazuhiro. Assistant Professor Tsukahara said, "The idea came from the field of pre-hospital rescue. In the demonstration evaluation by the fire department, we received feedback from the paramedics on site, such as, ' the shield gives me a sense of security. We are very happy that this product has been commercialized. We will continue our research and development efforts to further contribute to the field.

From a press release by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
　
Emergency medical personnel on the front lines are constantly exposed to the risk of new coronavirus infection, and it is important to reduce exposure to aerosols and droplets from patients during emergency transport. This time, we developed a shield suitable for emergency transport of patients with novel coronavirus infection. The shield is made of a soft, lightweight material that can be folded and stored inside the ambulance. The shield was also found to be effective in reducing aerosol exposure by attaching a suction mechanism to the shield, and the results were published in the American journal Critical Care. In FY2021, the shield was improved and evaluated for social application, and the product was launched on February 14, and completed its commercialization.

Reference: Press release