The Use of Video Exposure Monitoring in a Training Video to Motivate Fit-Testing and the Appropriate Use of Healthcare N95 Respirators

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brosseau L ; Cohen M ; Roe M
• Description:
  Situation/Problem: Healthcare workers may be required to wear N95filtering facepiece respirators (FFR) to reduce potential exposure to airborne bacterial and viral agents. Motivating workers to be fit tested, wear only a fit tested respirator, and don it correctly are key to ensuring that workers obtain adequate protection. Resolution: A training video was developed using video exposure monitoring (VEM) technology to visually demonstrate how a poorly fitting or improperly adjusted N95 FFR allows unacceptable levels of facepiece leakage. Two TSI Portacount instruments continuously measured inside- and outside-facepiece particle concentrations while a video image was simultaneously recorded. Healthcare workers participated in several scenarios illustrating the effects of facial hair, respirators of incorrect size, and failure to properly adjust the respirator. A surgical mask was also fit tested to illustrate the very low level of protection provided. Proprietary 3M software was run on a laptop computer to communicate with the Portacounts and log the one-second average data. NIOSH-developed VEM software was used to animate the data and Adobe Premier used to create the overlay and edit the video. Results: The VEM technology provides a very clear and easy-to-understand image that illustrates for employees the importance of fit testing, being clean shaven and using the model and size for which they have been fit tested. Lessons Learned: Video exposure monitoring that combines recorded images and direct-reading instrument measurements of on-going respirator fit may be a useful additional training and motivational tool in combination with current fit test and educational activities in healthcare environments. Future plans include developing videos with respirators in other workplace settings. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Health Personnel
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protective Devices
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
• Keywords:
  • N95 filtering facepiece respirators
  • Respiratory protective equipment
  • Health care workers
  • Training
  • Personal protective equipment
  • PPE
  • Fit testing
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Minnesota ; OSHA Region 10 ; OSHA Region 5 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  104-105
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062515
• Citation:
  AIHce 2013: American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, May 18-23, 2013, Montreal, Quebec. Falls Church, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2013 May; :104-105
• 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
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225750/cdc_225750_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.01 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8ca4b1c9624bbbf12c62a7b90289f11c04153e8dcb8b58f72e51e274dd63f6eff95b8a4657d0b50d08245641ce34e5b330e52f62749076f058b7c8ff40d37b8b