Lisa Pompeii, Janelle Rios, Colleen S Kraft, Marie Kasbaum, Elisa Benavides, Scott J Patlovich, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Adam Hornbeck, Caitlin McClain, Rohan D Fernando, Margaret Sietsema, Morgan Lane
BACKGROUND: Reusable elastomeric half-mask respirators (EHMR) are an alternative to address shortages of disposable respirators. While respirator discomfort has been noted as a barrier to adherence to wearing an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) among health care personnel (HCP), few have examined EHMR comfort while providing patient care, which was the purpose of this study. METHOD: Among a cohort of 183 HCP, we prospectively examined how HCP rated EHMR tolerability using the Respirator Comfort, Wearing Experience, and Function Instrument (R-COMFI) questionnaire at Study Week 2 and Week 10...
April 8, 2024: Workplace Health & Safety