By Andrew Liszewski
If you’ve ever looked down at your keyboard and wondered what parasites, bacteria and other forms of unclassified life were crawling all over it, imagine what the keyboards at a hospital must be like. That thought alone is probably what inspired a company called Esterline to create their Medigenic Infection-Control Keyboard. Instead of raised keys, which provides endless places for crud to get trapped, the Medigenic features a flat keyboard design (with fake 3D key graphics) that can be quickly wiped clean with hospital-grade disinfectants.
Supposedly the flat design can still be used by touch typists with “conventional keyboard-like performance” and there’s a dedicated disable button which prevents accidental key presses while the Medigenic is being wiped down. There’s even a backlight allowing the keyboard to be used in low-light environments without disturbing a patient, and a warning light that will flash at user-defined intervals reminding you it’s time for a cleaning.
The Medigenic keyboard runs about $140, while the mouse, which is just as easy to keep clean, is about $80.
[ Medigenic Infection-Control Keyboard ] VIA [ Medgadget ]
Personally I can't stand typing on slim-line keyboards so using this design for any substantial amount of work would be a real headache. Still, if it stopped me contracting MRSA it would probably be a small price to pay!
I can't understand why you would want this when you could get one of these:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5169541/vioguard-germ+figh…
I think the later is much safer and cleaner and quicker.
That one has no keypad. How usable is that in a hospital environment where everything and everyone has a number?
Great post, really help me alot. Thanks.
Cheers,🙂