I deeply respect my IPAC colleagues that defer to experts in respiratory protection, OH&S, and environmental controls when tasked with developing #IPAC policy for viruses like SARS-CoV-2.
Some even go out of their way to bridge their own knowledge gaps as most have had little or no training in these areas prior to pandemic (neither did anaesthetists)
Thankyou @VicGovDH for stating something that is now widely recognised. If you are one of those individuals (particularly health professionals) that doesn’t yet recognise this it’s time to explore the cognitive blocks preventing you from moving forward with scientific consensus.
You may come across articles referring to a preprint of a paper titled “Effectiveness of filtering or decontaminating air to reduce or prevent respiratory infections: A systematic review”
While it’s good seeing efforts to answer this question, the validity of any conclusions drawn requires knowing the difference in clean air delivery in the intervention vs control arms.
This was not addressed, as was made clear by the authors in the paper. #IAQ#CleanAir#HEPAfilter#Infectionprevention
“The findings comparing the propensity-matched cohorts showed that prior COVID-19 infection was associated with a significantly increased risk for RSV infection during both 2022 and 2021 RSV peak seasons. This finding is consistent with our hypothesis that COVID-19 is an important contributing factor to the 2022 surge of severe paediatric RSV diseases, possibly through its lasting damage to the immune and respiratory systems of young children” #Infectionprevention https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10582888/
The correct response to a high prevalence of HCW infections is not “don’t measure”, it’s mitigate risk.
This includes requiring fit-tested respirators as source control, or task transfer where appropriate. This is what we did in Victorian hospitals. Return to work (without a second test) when well enough after diagnoses and wear a fit-tested respirator at all times through to day 10. https://med-mastodon.com/@luckytran/111212145176676384 via @luckytran
On long 12hr+ days when I did asbestos abatement monitoring, I had to shave right before entering containment, and later during the early evening. Anything that cropped up made the gaskets on the respirators not stick to your skin as well, and you can feel that when you do your fitment checks.
I also worked alongside people who went in with nothing and smoked so 🤷
While it makes sense long term to have healthcare workers wear masks when infectious at work, there is little point wearing a loose fitting surgical mask instead of a fit-tested respirator. #N95#infectionprevention#IPC
Today a theatre nurse instructed a surgeon to swap out of a medical mask to an N95 when the surgeon admitted to having tonsillitis. Great to see the patient advocacy and understanding that fit tested respirators protect patients.
This should be the standard going forward.
“Are there some public health measures that we should be keeping even though the pandemic itself is on the decline? We believe that requiring #masks in hospitals — where the most vulnerable people in society go to get medical treatments — continues to make sense & can protect patients”
You cannot undertake a study examining environmental controls for reducing transmission of communicable disease without an engineer in your team. Without them you will likely make mistakes and invalidate your efforts.
Everyone at home is sick with fevers & coughs except me today. It would be completely irresponsible & a dereliction of duty for me as a close contact for whatever it is my family are carrying to not reduce the potential exposure to my patients by 100 fold by wearing a fit-tested particulate filtering respirator whilst at work.
This is a permanent change to my practice & should be for all healthcare workers going forward. #MasksWork#N95#COVID19#IPC#infectiousdisease#infectionprevention