Impacts on staff after implementation of a respiratory protection program in a Victorian public hospital.
Infect Dis Health
; 26(4): 265-272, 2021 11.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1283354
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.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Respiratory Protective Devices
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Infect Dis Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.idh.2021.06.001
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