In my late teens and early twenties, I had the privilege to be able to help my father (a now-retired plastic surgeon) in the OR as a way to make some pocket change while school was in recess. There are a number of basic things that an unskilled teen can help with in an OR, but I'll pass on the details as they are pretty gory. It did take me a few tries before I could go through an entire procedure without nearly being on the verge of fainting. It turns out all that flesh and blood can have a serious effect on the uninitiated and cause unannounced, random faintings, but nothing that a couple of sugar cubes and some water can't fix.
This is relevant now is because doctors in ORs around the world, have been accustomed to this hand-sanitizing-don't-touch-anything business for as long as the germ theory as been around. So by looking at what they do on a daily basis, we can infer what our germaphobe future will look like. If we can only rely on our hygienic habits to be safe, then we will have to be paranoid about not touching anything once our hands are sanitized. I occasionally have nightmares about not scrubbing every germ out of my hands before heading into the OR. I jest of course, but barely as this is every surgeon's nightmare.
I think that's where design can come in to save the day. Surgical hand-scrubbing notwithstanding, we are already starting to see how this situation will change design. And that's a reason to be cheerful.
What do you think a hands-free building would look like? How is that going to change our living and working environments?
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