Dr Pieter PeachApr 27, 2023
Prior to the pandemic our hospitals in Victoria Australia never fit-tested their staff for respirators.
Now we have fit testers employed full time at the Royal Children’s Hospital and staff that were fit tested at the beginning of the pandemic are being retested to ensure their face shape hasn’t changed, and that new Australian made models fit. 🧵(1/n)
#N95 #MasksWork #PatientSafety
Show threadDr Pieter PeachApr 27, 2023
We also just wheeled in a portable HEPA filter (Samsung AX90T ~ $500 bulk purchase) into a birth suite in labour ward in another hospital for a COVID-19 patient adding 16 air changes per hr when run on level 2. These are the same devices installed in every public school class in the state of Victoria.
Portable #HEPAfilters, fit tested respirators, these are all sustainable long term solutions to reduce the risk of nosocomial and workplace acquired infection with viruses like #SarsCoV2 (2/n)
#IPC
Show threadDr Pieter Peach

Do I feel more protected walking in to insert an epidural today with a heavily vocalising patient in a poorly ventilated birth suite with an extra 16 air changes per hour? Absolutely. We know that a portable #HEPAfilter can augment the effectiveness of a fitted respirator as demonstrated in this study below. (3/n)

https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiac195

Fit-Tested N95 Masks Combined With Portable High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filtration Can Protect Against High Aerosolized Viral Loads Over Prolonged Periods at Close Range

Only a fit-tested N95 mask provided protection against virus aerosol; surgical masks and non-fit-tested N95 masks were not superior to no-mask control. The

OUP Academic
Apr 27, 2023 at 11:50pmIvory for iOS