Hospital Respiratory Protection Programs: Usefulness of Resources and Informational Gaps

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  The Joint Commission ; The Joint Commission
• Description:
  Protecting workers from exposure to all types of respiratory hazards is an important issue for all hospital staff, yet often does not receive the attention it deserves. As part of a constellation of research initiatives designed to improve respiratory protection programs (RPP), CDC/NIOSH/NPPTL supported the development of two educational resources, which were released in the spring of 2015: A national toolkit, Hospital Respiratory Protection Program Toolkit: Resources for Respirator Program Administrators, developed in collaboration with OSHA (2015); and an educational monograph, Implementing Hospital Respiratory Protection Programs: Strategies from the Field, developed in collaboration with The Joint Commission (2014). These resources were designed to work together to assist hospitals in the development and implementation of their respiratory protection programs. In order to capitalize on the complementary material in both educational documents, and to reach slightly different audiences, these resources have been promoted and disseminated together by the three organizations (NIOSH, OSHA, and The Joint Commission). Dissemination efforts have included announcements and press releases, website, electronic, and social media postings, promotion at professional conferences, various publications, and a joint educational webinar conducted by NIOSH and The Joint Commission (with CE credits available). Despite widespread dissemination, it was unclear if these resources were reaching their targeted audiences and if they are helpful to those responsible for respiratory protection programs in hospitals. Government agencies (such as CDC NIOSH) and professional associations continued to receive questions from the field regarding how to handle specific issues related to respirators, such as "should visitors wear respirators when they are in airborne isolation units even though they have not been fit-tested" and "should staff exposed to surgical smoke in the OR wear respirators?" Many of these situational and clinical questions were not directly answered in existing published guidelines, such as CDC's Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings (2007) or Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health-care Facilities (2003). Nor were they specifically addressed in the two newer resources. It was apparent there was a need to identify new and ongoing issues and problems (clinical conundrums) to determine how to best support healthcare professionals as they implement and operationalize their respiratory protection programs. In September of 2016, The Joint Commission received a contract from CDC/NIOSH/NPPTL (Contract #200-2016-M-90738) to conduct a research study to explore these ongoing issues. The project consisted of two goals: 1. To assess the perceived usefulness of the 2015 toolkit and monograph related to respiratory protection programs (Goal 1); and 2. To identify information gaps. This goal was narrowed to focus specifically on the identification of clinical situations whereby clarification regarding use of respiratory protection might be needed (Goal 2). The findings of the project will be summarized in a manuscript and submitted for publication. It is hoped that these findings will help identify respiratory protection issues that may need more definitive guidance or additional research, or will uncover ongoing implementation challenges associated with existing guidance regarding use of respirators in clinical settings. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Education Hazardous Substances Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Hospitals Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Respiratory System Safety
• Keywords:
  Administration Communication Systems Guidelines Hazard Communication Health Care Facilities Health Protection Hospital Equipment Information Dissemination Medical Facilities Occupational Health Programs Occupational Safety And Health Administration OSHA Personal Protective Equipment PPE Respirators Respiratory Equipment Respiratory Protection Respiratory Protective Equipment Safety Education Social Media Website Work Operations

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• Publisher:
  The Joint Commission
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Final Contract Report ; Final Contract Report
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory ; NPPTL - National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-66
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20050639
• Citation:
  Oak Brook, IL: The Joint Commission, 2017 Oct; :1-66
• Contact Point Address:
  Maria C. Montero, Department of Health Services Research, Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation, The Joint Commission, Department of Health Services Research, Division of Healthcare Quality Evaluation, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL
• Email:
  mmontero@jointcommission.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2018
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance ; Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Performing Organization:
  The Joint Commission, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Hospital respiratory protection programs: usefulness of resources and informational gaps
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:28ce10a07ec193525d86fe0b0ccce9b897264915248960454e609f7497d1373f1528afeaf6e57f88470d1db504613238c09bb1a115eebcdf66680dca29fd1cfc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/210902/cdc_210902_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.11 MB ]