Impacts on staff after implementation of a respiratory protection program in a Victorian public hospital

Abstract

Background: In October 2020, the Royal Melbourne Hospital implemented a Respiratory Protection Program (RPP), which was initiated by the Victorian Government. This study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Methods: A cohort of 158 employees, who were identified as high risk to respiratory biohazard exposure, were invited to participate in the RPP. We provided a bundle of interventions, which included an online training package, and mandatory quantitative fit testing. The main outcomes included the participants' knowledge and attitude toward respiratory protection equipment (RPE), which were assessed via an online survey. Their donning and doffing skills, and user seal check techniques on four different types of N95 respirators were also assessed by an observer using a pre-determined marking sheet. We compared these outcomes before and after participation in the program. Results: There was a total of 125 participants, all of whom completed the knowledge and attitude assessment, and 69 completed the skill assessment before and after the program. There was a statistically significant improvement in their knowledge scores, donning and doffing skills, and user seal check techniques after participation in the RPP. Participants also reported significant increased level of confidence in their RPE knowledge, training and skills; and workplace safety. Conclusion: This initial report of the implementation of a novel RPP in a Victorian major tertiary hospital provides guidance on the benefits to respiratory protection, staff knowledge, skills, confidence and morale that can be acquired from a scalable online training package combined with mandatory quantitative fit testing.

Mental health symptoms in Australian general practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…This issue is important, as previous research demonstrated that PHC workers who were satisfied with their organisational support experience significantly lower stress levels than those who were less satisfied (Lee et al 2020). GPs who worked in smaller practices, in particular those in regional G Williams et al 2021). Yet, the majority of Australian GPs have not been offered respiratory fit-testing (The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners 2021).…”

A systematic review of passing fit testing of the masks and respirators used during the COVID-19 pandemic: Part 1-quantitative fit test procedures

“…In total of 46 studies did not report the gender proportion. Among them, four studies did not report the number of study subjects in more detail [ 43 , 53 , 57 , 58 ], and two studies did not comprehensively and clearly report the number of study subjects [ 55 , 59 ]. Also, in three studies, no subject characteristics were presented [ 60 – 62 ].…”

“…Subjects of 60 studies were HCWs, the professional group’ HCWs were included the following: four studies: anaesthetists and predominantly anaesthetic technicians, anaesthetic consultants and trainees [ 5 , 35 , 63 , 64 ], five studies: physicians [ 65 – 69 ], one study: respiratory therapist [ 66 ], twenty-one: nurses [ 37 , 40 , 41 , 59 , 66 , 67 , 69 – 83 ], one study: administration [ 84 ], four studies: allied health staff [ 40 , 59 , 80 , 84 ], seven studies: medical or clinical staff [ 59 , 73 , 80 , 82 , 84 – 86 ], one study: paramedic staff [ 78 ], three studies: medical practitioner [ 40 , 80 , 83 ], one study: aged care or disability worker [ 40 ], two studies: medical imaging staff [ 40 , 80 ], five studies: other healthcare worker [ 40 , 59 , 78 – 80 ], five studies: non-clinical role [ 40 , 80 , 81 , 83 , 86 ], one study: infection control practitioners [ 87 ], two studies: laboratory workers [ 45 , 88 ], eight studies: doctors [ 41 , …”

“…Ten studies evaluated the impact of user seal checks (USCs) on passing the fit test [ 52 , 59 , 63 , 64 , 68 , 71 , 88 , 102 , 140 , 141 ]. There were no similarities between the results of the USCs and fit tests in eight studies [ 63 , 64 , 68 , 71 , 88 , 102 , 140 , 141 ].…”

Protocol of a prospective comprehensive evaluation of an elastic band beard cover for filtering facepiece respirators in healthcare

“…Each participant will have their donning, doffing and user seal check techniques assessed by direct observation by a trained fit tester, using a standardised marking sheet (Appendix 3 in S3 File ). A similar marking system has been used in our previous study, which showed good consistency [ 20 ]. Inter- and intra-rater reliability will be assessed in this study, using a series of video recordings of ten separate donning and doffing procedures with pre-determined embedded errors.…”