Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene
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J Occup Environ Hyg · Sep 2017
Comparative StudyPerformance of two respiratory protective devices used by home-attending health care workers (a pilot study).
This pilot study aimed at determining the Workplace Protection Factor (WPF) for respiratory protective devices widely used by health care workers to reduce exposure to potentially hazardous aerosols when attending patients in their homes. Two devices were tested, an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) and a surgical mask (SM). ⋯ Wearing an N95-certified respirator helps significantly reduce the aerosol inhalation exposure of home-attending health care workers. An SM offers much lower protection. The WPF depends on several factors, including, but not limited to, the health care worker's activity and/or body movements; the WPF varies from one worker to another.