Designing for hand hygiene at the Seraph-McSparren Pediatric Inpatient Center

Tapmaster® helps keep kids safe and have fun while they visit the hospital!

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront an acute awareness of infection control in building design, both in public spaces as well as our personal spaces like homes and offices. Infection prevention and control experts consistently advise that improved hand hygiene is critical in maintaining a safe and sanitary environment. However, handwashing is not as simple as it would seem at first blush. The faucet itself is a major infection vector unless careful precautions are taken. The obvious answer to increasing the effectiveness of hand washing is by reducing the danger of being re-contaminated by the faucet through hands-free operation.

When the Lancaster General Hospital decided to design their new Seraph-McSparren Pediatric Inpatient Center, they wanted to create an engaging and uplifting space for patients and their families. Being a hospital, infection control is a key consideration in the design of any new unit. They also required that the products involved with the project had proven track records for exceptional reliability and effectiveness. One of the many showpieces of design in the new pediatric waiting area is a custom designed washbasin intended to help promote hand washing for the children and families as they visit the unit. The project architecture firm, Stantec Architecture and Engineering LLC approached Tapmaster Incorporated to co-develop a custom hands-free solution for this washbasin. Tapmaster® provides faucet control solutions that are an elegant and different take on hands-free operation. Rather than relying on electromechanical valves and sensors they operate entirely on water pressure. Tapmaster® faucet controllers do not need batteries or electrical connections of any kind, and are compatible with any faucet or spout a designer chooses to use. This flexibility of design, combined with industry leading durability and reliability allowed Tapmaster Incorporated to work with Stantec to design a completely custom plumbing solution that made it possible for multiple kids to use the wash basin simultaneously while also providing easy operation for individuals in wheelchairs.

Tapmaster® products are the best-selling and most requested hands-free faucet control solution in the north American dental market where they frequently work with major industry OEM clients to create custom applications to work with bespoke millwork and cabinetry. Recently Mt. Sinai hospital in Toronto has flat-specified Tapmaster products to replace all manual and electronic sensor faucets in the Sinai Health region after a pilot project showed significant improvements in operational effectiveness compared to electronic faucets from other major competitors. For more information on this project visit https://tapmaster.ca/.

The key feature that sets Tapmaster® products apart from other hands-free solutions on the market is the way by which they operate. Driven only by water pressure, Tapmaster® products do not require electronics, batteries, or mechanical linkages. They have no sliding or rotating seals of any kind which allows them to withstand in excess of 5 million operation cycles with no detectable sign of wear or reduced function. Tapmaster products are also 100% compliant with California Prop 65 low-lead requirements and are approved for sale to childcare and medical centers within California.