Qualitative suitability test of medical protective masks and influencing factors

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To test the suitability of medical protective masks worn by medical staff and explore the factors that affect the results of qualitative suitability tests. METHODS: A total of 221 medical and administrative staff who participated in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic in a designated hospital were recruited as the study objects, and the qualitative suitability testing was carried out by using bittering agent aerosol method (3 MTMFT-30) approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). RESULTS: Totally 201 were qualified for the sensitivity test, including 169 (84.1%) objects with level 1 sensitivity, 30 (14.9%) objects with level 2 sensitivity, 2 (1.0%) objects with level 3 sensitivity. Among the 201 objects, 188 passed the first test, 5 objects passed the second test, and 8 objects did not pass the test, with the pass rate 96.02%. The analysis of influencing factors showed that the BMI index affected the result of the suitability test (P<0.05), however, the genders, ages, wearing glasses, double chin, size of face, wearing goggles, shape of face length, width of nose and submandibular arc length of the two tragus points were not the influencing factors for the result of qualitative suitability test. CONCLUSION: This foldable medical protective mask has a high pass rate in the qualitative suitability test, and the BMI is one of the influencing factors;first-line medical staff can verify the airtightness of the medical protective mask through the qualitative suitability test so as to choose the appropriate medical protective masks.