Respirator Policies and Practices for Aerosol-Transmissible Diseases in Acute Care Hospitals

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brosseau L ; Cline K ; Conroy L ; Sietsema M
• Description:
  Objective: The goal of this project was to assess respiratory protection program policies and practices for aerosol-transmissible diseases in acute care hospitals. Methods: Twenty-eight representative hospitals were selected by size, location and ownership in Minnesota and Illinois. Interviews were conducted with 363 healthcare workers (HCW) and 171 hospital and unit managers; written programs were scored for required elements; 77 HCW were observed donning and doffing an N95 FFR. Results: Written programs in Minnesota exceeded those in Illinois, particularly in the areas of risk assessment, fit testing and program evaluation. The most serious deficiency in many written programs was failure to identify a program administrator. Most written programs lacked details about medical evaluation, fit testing and training and did not include a comprehensive risk assessment for airborne infectious diseases; tuberculosis (TB) was often the only pathogen addressed. Conversely, HCW in Illinois were more likely to give better or more protective responses about airborne pathogen exposures, medical evaluation, fit testing, training and respirator reuse than those in Minnesota. Healthcare workers were more likely than managers to say they could wear a respirator without a fit test. A large fraction of respondents said that training was less than 15 minutes. The most frequent respirator donning deficiencies were failure to correctly place straps, perform a user seal check and remove the respirator using straps. Conclusions: Minnesota had more rural and smaller urban hospitals where there may be lower awareness of or perceived need for respiratory protection programs, which may account for differences in interview responses between the states. There were important deficiencies in frequency of fit testing and training, communication of fit test results and content and length of training. We recommend that hospitals consider designating a single program administrator and using periodic evaluations to assess program effectiveness. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Communicable Diseases Health Personnel Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Respiratory Protective Devices Safety Tuberculosis
• Keywords:
  Aerosol Particles Fit Testing Health Care Workers Infectious Diseases Personal Protective Equipment Policy PPE Respirators Respiratory Protective Equipment TB
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  44
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062506
• Citation:
  AIHce 2013: American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 18-23, 2013, Montreal, Quebec. Falls Church, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2013 May; :44
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  University of Illinois at Chicago
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  AIHce 2013: American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 18-23, 2013, Montreal, Quebec
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e5e260fb9bba79a85a626d84755f90ce033f93ae3a6b77aff3cf78ae2512aaf54e95073f2c8b16cbee2b0c3c89d6688abdccfb1dbc3c20f4fc33f1e6c6259427
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225741/cdc_225741_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 942.61 KB ]