Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

Made for dentists. Hands down the worlds easiest to clean keyboard Cleankeys in the United Kingdom Michael Hensman t: +44 (0) 1404 861113 m: +44 (0) 7836 731333 mike.hensman@cleankeys.com www.cleankeys.com Keyboard September 3-9, 2012United Kingdom Edition P lastic Wrap - this means you wrap ‘clingfilm’ around the exterior of a keyboard. This works; it’s cheap and does the job, it’s difficult and time consuming to replace between treating patients, it looks very unprofessional. ed removable covers that fit di- must be removed and washed in a sink with soapy water, present- ing a barrier to compliance. The rubber material and deep crevic- es between keys become a reser- voir for pathogens – making them worse than the keyboard without a covering, if they aren’t cleaned regularly. They can look extreme- ly unprofessional when they are not cared for. keyboard is made of rubber, with keys that move within the rubber encasement. Must be washed in a sink with soapy water, presenting material and deep crevices be- tween keys become a reservoir for pathogens – making them worse than a regular keyboard, if not cleaned regularly. Lack of tactile feel make these keyboard harder to use. Generally these keyboards are more unreliable and the rub- ber breaks down. are covered with a sealed mem- brane typically made of vinyl or However, the tactile keys require more force than a regular key- board, making them impractical for quick, repetitive typing and crevices are an issue. cal Keys - a thin silicone rubber membrane is stretched over reg- ular mechanical keys. They can be cleaned in place. Porous rub- ber material can attract dirt and pathogens. The thin cover is eas- ily damaged and can break down with some cleaning agents. ings - incorporating a coating or plastic additive with anti- micro- bial properties. Looks and feels like a regular keyboard. Difficult to clean down in the cracks. Even if it’s anti-microbial, you still have to wipe off residue. This presents a barrier to compliance. acrylic top with touch sensitive keys. Smooth polished surface makes cleaning fast and effec- waterproof. Lack of tactile feel of the keys can slow typing speed. No moving parts and completely sealed means very durable. The solid surface solution seems to tick all the right boxes. The highly-polished surface of a solid surface keyboard eliminates any crevices in which dirt and mi- crobes can gather. With no moving parts, the sol- id-surface keyboard can be very these factors combine to produce a favourable rating in every cate- gory for the solid-surface solution. Traditionally usability of sol- id-surfaced keyboards has been a drawback. The keys are not mechanical, so the user is unable to tacitly feel the keys and unable to press them to get the keyboard ‘click’ feedback users expect. Furthermore, because the surface is touch-sensitive, the user is unable to rest their fingers on the keys without causing them to type. This means slower typing for 10-finger typists who are used to resting their fingers on the home row keys. The problem is seemingly paradoxical: how can a touch-sensitive keyboard allow the user to rest their fingers on it and feel the keys without typing? When a user types on a solid- surfaced keyboard, they usually tap on the desired key causing a “thumping” noise, or vibration. ing their fingers on a key, no tap occurs. By adding a vibration sen- sor to the keyboard and correlat- ing its input to that of the touch sensors, the paradox is solved; the keyboard simply doesn’t out- put text unless a tap has coincid- ed with a touch. This approach would allow the user to rest their fingers on the touch-sensitive surface, solving the problem de- scribed above. Further, shallow indentations could be moulded over each key, forming “key- wells” on the solid surface that allow the user to tacitly feel the location of each key. With these enhancements, the usability of the solid-surfaced keyboard is dramatically improved. Solid surfaced keyboards are quicker to clean because they are made with a solid, sealed surface; they can be cleaned in a fraction of the time it takes to clean a reg- ular keyboard and are easier to a countertop: just wipe the key- board in place with a disinfectant. What about the extra cost of a solid surface keyboard? Well let’s look at that; assuming just six cleanings per day, solid sur- face keyboards can save up to 50 hours per year in cleaning time, at it, solid surfaced keyboards can pay for themselves in far less sult from fewer disposable gloves and wipes used per treatment and the return on investment is immediate and significant: up to 10 times in the first year alone! sidering the expected life span of these keyboards is up to five years. What’s the side-effect of all those savings? Well a far more aseptic computing environment. So in conclusion a solid-sur- face touch-sensitive keyboard provides an effective solution to theproblemofthespreadofinfec- tioncausedbykeyboards.Bymak- ing the cleaning and disinfecting processes both effective and easy, compliance to cleaning protocols are more likely to be followed with this type of keyboard. The additional features of a tap-sen- sor help overcome the traditional drawback of usability of these keyboards, making it an ideal so- lution for infection control. DT this white paper please email dr- bandeywhitepaper@cleankeys. com As a dentist you want to ensure CQC compli- ance; keeping your computer keyboards clean and germ free, what are your options... A key(board) question