The transfer window is a key device for transferring items between sterile and non-sterile hospital environments. Its efficient air purification, disinfection functions, and sealed isolation design make it essential in many core hospital areas. The device helps avoid cross-contamination during item transfer, ensuring medical safety and the quality of diagnosis and treatment. Below is a detailed explanation by application scenario:
I. Operating Room Area
The operating room is one of the hospital areas with the highest aseptic requirements. Here, the transfer window acts as an important “bridge” between the operating room and external areas like the instrument preparation room and dressing room. Before an operation, nurses use the transfer window to bring in sterilized surgical instruments, dressings, and disposable surgical consumables. At this stage, the transfer window activates a dual purification process: ultraviolet disinfection and high-efficiency air filtration (HEPA). This process sterilizes the item surfaces and internal air, preventing non-sterile air from entering the operating room. After surgery, used and contaminated instruments and medical waste (which are sealed and packaged) are transferred out through the window to the external treatment area. This procedure helps prevent bacteria spreading by direct contact and protects medical staff from contamination. Some transfer windows in operating rooms also use interlocking functions to ensure both doors never open at the same time, which physically eliminates air convection pollution.
Ii. Laboratory Department and Laboratory
The clinical laboratory and the laboratory department need to handle a large number of patient specimens (such as blood, urine, and tissue samples) and chemical reagents, which have extremely high requirements for environmental cleanliness and biosafety. The transfer window in this area is mainly used for two scenarios: specimen transfer and reagent/consumable replenishment. During specimen transfer, medical staff collect specimens from the ward, place them in sealed specimen boxes and send them through the transfer window, then initiate the disinfection procedure (usually ozone disinfection or ultraviolet disinfection). After the disinfection is completed, laboratory personnel take out the specimens from the inside for testing to prevent them from being contaminated by external environmental microorganisms during the transfer process. At the same time, it prevents the pathogens in the specimen (such as hepatitis B virus, novel coronavirus, etc.) from spreading to external areas. For chemical reagents and laboratory consumables, the transfer window can filter out dust and impurities in the external air, ensuring that the purity of the reagents is not affected. It is especially suitable for molecular biology laboratories (such as PCR laboratories), guaranteeing the accuracy of precision experiments such as genetic testing.
Iii. Intensive Care Unit (ICU
Most of the patients admitted to the ICU are critically ill and have weakened immune systems, making them prone to nosocomial infections. Therefore, aseptic control during the transfer of items is of vital importance. The application of transfer Windows in icus mainly includes the transfer of drugs, patient care supplies and medical equipment. For instance, the intravenous medications that nurses collect from the pharmacy need to be transferred to the ICU through the transfer window. During this period, the air purification system of the transfer window can remove bacteria and viruses from the air, preventing the surface of the drug packaging from carrying contaminants. Sterile dressings, suction tubes and other nursing supplies used by patients also need to be disinfected through the transfer window before use. In addition, when some precision medical equipment in the ICU (such as ventilator parts) is replaced, the transfer through the transfer window can reduce the risk of contamination caused by frequent personnel entry and exit, creating a safer treatment environment for patients.
Iv. Sterile Drug production and Storage Area
In the sterile drug production and storage areas such as the Intravenous Admixture Service (PIVAS) center and the preparation room within the hospital, the number of environmental microorganisms must be strictly controlled. The transfer window is the “necessary passage” for the entry and exit of items in this area. In PIVAS, the prepared intravenous infusion needs to be delivered to the ward through the transfer window. The transfer window will adopt laminar flow purification + ultraviolet disinfection technology to ensure that the infusion is in a sterile environment during the transfer process and prevent the drug solution from being contaminated. Sterile preparations produced in the preparation room (such as eye drops and injections) also need to undergo purification treatment through the transfer window when transferred to the storage room to meet the requirements of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for drugs. Meanwhile, the transfer window in this area also has a differential pressure control function, maintaining a positive pressure environment in the sterile area and preventing external contaminated air from seeping in.
V. Infectious Disease Wards and Isolation Areas
In infectious disease hospitals or infectious disease isolation wards of general hospitals, the transfer window is the core equipment for achieving “contactless transmission”, which can effectively cut off the transmission routes of pathogens. When medical staff pass food, medicine and daily necessities to isolated patients, they place the items in the transfer window, close the outer door and start the disinfection procedure (such as hydrogen peroxide spray disinfection, ultraviolet disinfection). After the disinfection is completed, the patient or the inner medical staff will open the inner door to take away the items to avoid cross-infection caused by direct contact between people. For the domestic garbage and medical waste generated by patients, they also need to be transferred to the outside through dedicated transfer Windows (with negative pressure function) to prevent the spread of pathogens in the waste to public areas and ensure the safety of medical staff and other patients.
The operating room is one of the hospital areas with the highest aseptic requirements. Here, the transfer window acts as an important “bridge” between the operating room and external areas like the instrument preparation room and dressing room. Before an operation, nurses use the transfer window to bring in sterilized surgical instruments, dressings, and disposable surgical consumables. At this stage, the transfer window activates a dual purification process: ultraviolet disinfection and high-efficiency air filtration (HEPA). This process sterilizes the item surfaces and internal air, preventing non-sterile air from entering the operating room. After surgery, used and contaminated instruments and medical waste (which are sealed and packaged) are transferred out through the window to the external treatment area. This procedure helps prevent bacteria spreading by direct contact and protects medical staff from contamination. Some transfer windows in operating rooms also use interlocking functions to ensure both doors never open at the same time, which physically eliminates air convection pollution.
Ii. Laboratory Department and Laboratory
The clinical laboratory and the laboratory department need to handle a large number of patient specimens (such as blood, urine, and tissue samples) and chemical reagents, which have extremely high requirements for environmental cleanliness and biosafety. The transfer window in this area is mainly used for two scenarios: specimen transfer and reagent/consumable replenishment. During specimen transfer, medical staff collect specimens from the ward, place them in sealed specimen boxes and send them through the transfer window, then initiate the disinfection procedure (usually ozone disinfection or ultraviolet disinfection). After the disinfection is completed, laboratory personnel take out the specimens from the inside for testing to prevent them from being contaminated by external environmental microorganisms during the transfer process. At the same time, it prevents the pathogens in the specimen (such as hepatitis B virus, novel coronavirus, etc.) from spreading to external areas. For chemical reagents and laboratory consumables, the transfer window can filter out dust and impurities in the external air, ensuring that the purity of the reagents is not affected. It is especially suitable for molecular biology laboratories (such as PCR laboratories), guaranteeing the accuracy of precision experiments such as genetic testing.
Iii. Intensive Care Unit (ICU
Most of the patients admitted to the ICU are critically ill and have weakened immune systems, making them prone to nosocomial infections. Therefore, aseptic control during the transfer of items is of vital importance. The application of transfer Windows in icus mainly includes the transfer of drugs, patient care supplies and medical equipment. For instance, the intravenous medications that nurses collect from the pharmacy need to be transferred to the ICU through the transfer window. During this period, the air purification system of the transfer window can remove bacteria and viruses from the air, preventing the surface of the drug packaging from carrying contaminants. Sterile dressings, suction tubes and other nursing supplies used by patients also need to be disinfected through the transfer window before use. In addition, when some precision medical equipment in the ICU (such as ventilator parts) is replaced, the transfer through the transfer window can reduce the risk of contamination caused by frequent personnel entry and exit, creating a safer treatment environment for patients.
Iv. Sterile Drug production and Storage Area
In the sterile drug production and storage areas such as the Intravenous Admixture Service (PIVAS) center and the preparation room within the hospital, the number of environmental microorganisms must be strictly controlled. The transfer window is the “necessary passage” for the entry and exit of items in this area. In PIVAS, the prepared intravenous infusion needs to be delivered to the ward through the transfer window. The transfer window will adopt laminar flow purification + ultraviolet disinfection technology to ensure that the infusion is in a sterile environment during the transfer process and prevent the drug solution from being contaminated. Sterile preparations produced in the preparation room (such as eye drops and injections) also need to undergo purification treatment through the transfer window when transferred to the storage room to meet the requirements of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for drugs. Meanwhile, the transfer window in this area also has a differential pressure control function, maintaining a positive pressure environment in the sterile area and preventing external contaminated air from seeping in.
V. Infectious Disease Wards and Isolation Areas
In infectious disease hospitals or infectious disease isolation wards of general hospitals, the transfer window is the core equipment for achieving “contactless transmission”, which can effectively cut off the transmission routes of pathogens. When medical staff pass food, medicine and daily necessities to isolated patients, they place the items in the transfer window, close the outer door and start the disinfection procedure (such as hydrogen peroxide spray disinfection, ultraviolet disinfection). After the disinfection is completed, the patient or the inner medical staff will open the inner door to take away the items to avoid cross-infection caused by direct contact between people. For the domestic garbage and medical waste generated by patients, they also need to be transferred to the outside through dedicated transfer Windows (with negative pressure function) to prevent the spread of pathogens in the waste to public areas and ensure the safety of medical staff and other patients.
