back to article 'Repeatable sanitization' is a feature of PCs now

HP Inc has announced a trio of slightly-odd products intended for use in hospitals. The new HP EliteOne 800 G4 23.8 Healthcare Edition All-in-One PC and HP EliteBook 840 G5 Healthcare Edition Notebook are computers intended for use in the healthcare industry. The EliteBook will ship with software called "Easy Clean" that …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    HP is just selling snake oil.

    1. Barry Rueger

      Snake oil? I think it's brilliant to be able to wipe down a laptop without shutting off. This should be standard issue.

      1. Teiwaz

        or at the very least...

        Snake oil? I think it's brilliant to be able to wipe down a laptop without shutting off. This should be standard tissue.

        FTFY

        'Facial' recognition?

        - Dunno, sound unhygienic....

        'Faecal' recognition - definitely unhygienic, but think of the medical diagnosis lab savings...

        1. Mark 85

          Re: or at the very least...

          'Faecal' recognition - definitely unhygienic, but think of the medical diagnosis lab savings...

          Hmm... save labs costs but charge the same price for a test. Poop can definitely smell like profit!!!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Need to wipe your laptop down often do you :p

        1. David Roberts
          Coffee/keyboard

          Wipe down all the time.

      3. Black Betty

        Cleanability.

        In my experience, an ordinary damp cloth can be safely used on functioning kit provided it is well and truly wrung out. This doesn't necessarily apply to Apple kit, since a fly can apparently kill a Macbook with a wet fart.

      4. MrReynolds2U
        Coffee/keyboard

        Want a simpler and cheaper method?

        If it's a Windows laptop, hit {Windows}+L. Your device is locked and you can sanitise to your heart's content.

      5. Daniel 18

        "Snake oil? I think it's brilliant to be able to wipe down a laptop without shutting off. This should be standard issue."

        It's called screen lock, or sometime 'cat mode'.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What happens if you do 10,001 wipes? I can't really see people working in hospitals keeping count.

    1. picturethis
      Joke

      Well, that's because you didn't order the "wipe counter display" entitlement option. Each time the PC is put into "wipe down mode" it increments a counter. When the counter hits 10,000, the PC must be returned to an HP authorized dealer for a reset before it will be allowed to enter the mode again.

    2. TomPhan

      The life of a PC in major medical clinics is usually three years, so it should manage about 10 wipes a day. Depending on the location and the usage that'll be plenty.

  3. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    I also have EasyClean on my PC

    I also have easy clean on my PCs and laptops. It is called "password protected screen saver".

    I also have a keyboard which survives an arbitrary number of alcohol containing wipes - all older stinkpads keyboards do.

    What a load of snake oil.

    1. sabroni Silver badge

      Re: It is called "password protected screen saver".

      So either you allow unlimited attempts at guessing your password or you're happy to be locked out of your account once in a while. Or you don't wipe very thoroughly. Eww.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It is called "password protected screen saver".

        I don't browse the kind of site that leads to needing to wipe!!

      2. MrReynolds2U
        Coffee/keyboard

        Re: It is called "password protected screen saver".

        Or - and I realise this is a really out-there comment - HP could put a power switch on their keyboards/mice so you could disable the keyboard/mouse to clean.

        Oh wait... this is what they're doing... but they're gonna charge the earth for it... and probably include Bluetooth, ... and some kind of Cloud linkup... and an iPhone app... and a warranty recharge after 10,000 wipes... and make it a virtual button.

        Just lol

  4. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    Just stick the PC into the highest-rated explosion-proof enclosure, and that should prevent any nasties from breeding inside.

    OTOH cooling will be a real problem. The unlucky technician who'll be required to service this PC, well...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Given a PC's insides are lovely and warm, The Register imagines they might be a decent place for biological nasties to breed."

    Possibly, but they would need to metabolize something inside to do so. AFAIK, the stuff in a laptop is pretty hard to digest, except maybe trapped dust.

    But the real killer is that it will be very, very dry in there, due to all the heat. Bacteria are pretty tough but they do need some moisture.

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      > AFAIK, the stuff in a laptop is pretty hard to digest, except maybe trapped dust

      You haven't taken apart an old keyboard have you? Even if it's only a year old, there's usually a ton of pretty disgusting crap in there.

  6. Baldrickk

    not intended

    "not intended for use in diagnosis, cure, treatment or prevention of disease or other medical conditions."

    I prescribe two hp laptops a day, to be taken before food. Ingest orally.

    1. Teiwaz
      Coat

      Re: not intended in France

      I prescribe two hp laptops a day, to be taken before food. Ingest orally.

      In France (I hear) suppositories are preferred (in many cases)

      Any advice on that?

      Two HP laptops inserted after lunch might be a pain in the,,,,,

      ....cheque, please...

      1. TomPhan
        Coat

        Re: not intended in France

        That's just a work of fiction - a super story if you like.

    2. Korev Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: not intended

      If you pop just the chips out then job's a good 'un

  7. x 7

    there are medical grade sealed keyboards and mice available off the shelf, though they cost a fortune and aren't all that reliable: usually the USB components fail. It just needs someone to make something more reliable.

    However a bigger issue are the actual PCs themselves, which inevitably act as vacuum cleaners and get full of shit off the wards. Hospitals really do need sealed-unit PCs which are fanless, washable and resilient. A lot of hospitals use thin clients anyway - there could be a case for putting an uprated Raspberry Pi into a waterproof plastic case and using that as a terminal for a remotely hosted VM

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Mistakes

    IP rating is 'Ingress Protection' not 'International Protection'.

    I do not know why there is a question mark after the sentence about it being DICOM part 14 compliant. This is quite sensible and lother people make such monitors.

    The reason it says "not intended for use in diagnosis, cure, treatment or prevention of disease or other medical conditions." is that this makes it clear it is not a medical device. This is so the manufacturer makes it clear that a software application that, for example assists diagnosis, is a medical device but that the computer it runs on is general IT equipment and not a medical device. This actually makes sense but risks associated with the equipment still need to be controlled hence the wipes controlling risks of cross infection etc. Where it gets a little interesting is if the computer is in the patient environment (patient may touch it or user may touch patient while touching it) in which case it should meet the medical electrical safety standard (IEC 60601-1). They are sneaky here claiming compliance with 60601-1-2 which is just EMC and not safety.

    1. ibmalone

      Re: Mistakes

      I do not know why there is a question mark after the sentence about it being DICOM part 14 compliant. This is quite sensible and lother people make such monitors.

      Will be interested to see what these cost, last time we priced some they were reassuringly expensive (and smaller), but consumer IPS has come down a lot since.

  9. far2much4me

    Pharmaceuticals

    I can see a use for this in pharmaceutical manufacture. Most drugs are manufactured in asceptic controlled areas and need to be sanitized. When they come up with one that can be autoclaved, then they will really have something.

    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      "asceptic controlled areas"

      Churches?

  10. Allan George Dyer
    Flame

    Call me when they produce a PC that works after autoclaving

    icon - because there's no pressurised steam icon

    1. onefang

      Re: Call me when they produce a PC that works after autoclaving

      I was gonna say that, but add "without being turned off" as HP is touting.

      Have an upvote, but no beer, those things are full of icky biologicals.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Look up some of the common hospital cleaning wipes such as Chlorox or Cavi-Wipe and you'll see ingredients that will quickly damage screens and case finishes on devices that are actually being cleaned as often and as thoroughly as they should be in a clinical setting. The HP HC machines are meant to withstand those types of cleaning agents being used as they should be, all over the device and left damp to dry. It's easier for the clinicians and more likely they will be compliant when you can just tell them all surfaces of a particular device can be cleaned uniformly, rather than having to clean a keyboard differently than a screen, which might be different than the chassis, etc. It sounds petty to my peers outside of healthcare, but I think the simplicity of instruction on cleaning will result in safer devices at the bedside. Looking forward to testing this out, we've got swabs to culture at the ready.

    Not sure what the equivalent is in the ROW, but for the US, a FIPS compliant fingerprint reader is forward thinking in that it will meet Federal requirements for signoff on electronic prescriptions of controlled substances. Standard FPRs and RFID can't be used in the EPCS signoff workflow. Great to have one integrated.

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