Use of a Negative Pressure Containment Pod Within Ambulance-Workspace During Pandemic Response

Details

• Personal Author:
  Banerjee RK ; Feng, H. Amy ; Hammond, Duane R. ; Mead, Kenneth R. ; Neu, Dylan T. ; Pena M
• Description:
  Emergency medical service (EMS) providers have a higher potential exposure to infectious agents than the general public (Nguyen et al., 2020, "Risk of COVID-19 Among Frontline Healthcare Workers and the General Community: A Prospective Cohort Study," Lancet Pub. Health, 5(9), pp. e475-e483; Brown et al., 2021, "Risk for Acquiring Coronavirus Disease Illness Among Emergency Medical Service Personnel Exposed to Aerosol-Generating Procedures," Emer. Infect. Disease J., 27(9), p. 2340). The use of protective equipment may reduce, but does not eliminate their risk of becoming infected as a result of these exposures. Prehospital environments have a high risk of disease transmission exposing EMS providers to bioaerosols and droplets from infectious patients. Field intubation procedures may be performed causing the generation of bioaerosols, thereby increasing the exposure of EMS workers to pathogens. Additionally, ambulances have a reduced volume compared to a hospital treatment space, often without an air filtration system, and no control mechanism to reduce exposure. This study evaluated a containment plus filtration intervention for reducing aerosol concentrations in the patient module of an ambulance. Aerosol concentration measurements were taken in an unoccupied research ambulance at National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Cincinnati using a tracer aerosol and optical particle counters (OPCs). The evaluated filtration intervention was a containment pod with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered extraction system that was developed and tested based on its ability to contain, capture, and remove aerosols during the intubation procedure. Three conditions were tested (1) baseline (without intervention), (2) containment pod with HEPA-1, and (3) containment pod with HEPA-2. The containment pod with HEPA-filtered extraction intervention provided containment of 95% of the total generated particle concentration during aerosol generation relative to the baseline condition, followed by rapid air cleaning within the containment pod. This intervention can help reduce aerosol concentrations within ambulance patient modules while performing aerosol-generating procedures. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Communicable Diseases Emergency Responders Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Aerosol Particles Disease Prevention Emergency Medical Services Workers EMS HEPA Filters High-efficiency Particulate Air Filters Infectious Diseases Negative Pressure Pathogens
• ISSN:
  1932-6181
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  17
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067086
• Citation:
  J Med Device 2023 Mar; 17(1):011009
• Contact Point Address:
  Dylan T. Neu, Division of Field Studies and Engineering, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cincinnati, OH 45226
• Email:
  DNeu@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Medical Devices
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2cd385f899b5c080e90fc96f5b87cb3f4db35b76dff263768ad60b61ad9237a37c42c985485837bf62b0787dc73bfdb2636d12e2783dd35b5f089145eda5e6ce
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231282/cdc_231282_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.11 MB ]