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. 2019 Jun;47(6):648-655.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2018.11.021. Epub 2019 Jan 10.

User acceptance of reusable respirators in health care

Stella E Hines  1 , Clayton Brown  2 , Marc Oliver  2 , Patricia Gucer  2 , Melissa Frisch  2 , Regina Hogan  2 , Tracy Roth  2 , James Chang  2 , Melissa McDiarmid  2
Affiliations

User acceptance of reusable respirators in health care

Stella E Hines et al. Am J Infect Control. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Inclusion of reusable respirators, such as elastomeric half-face respirators (EHFRs) and powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs), in hospital respiratory protection inventories may represent 1 solution to the problem of N95 respirator shortages experienced during pandemics. User acceptance of these devices is 1 potential barrier to implementing such a strategy in respiratory protection programs.

Methods: To assess user attitudes toward various respirators, health care workers enrolled in respiratory protection programs in a medical system using EHFRs, N95s, and PAPRs and completed an online questionnaire that addressed attitudes, beliefs, and respirator preferences under different risk scenarios. Responses were compared between user groups.

Results: Of 1,152 participants, 53% currently used N95s, 24% used EHFRs, and 23% used PAPRs. N95 users rated their respirators more favorably compared with EHFR and PAPR users (P < .001) regarding comfort and communication, however, EHFR users rated their respirators much more highly regarding sense of protection (P < .001). For all user groups, reusable respirators were significantly more likely (odds ratios 2.3-7.7) to be preferred over N95 filtering facepiece respirators in higher risk scenarios compared to "usual circumstance" scenarios.

Conclusions: Despite somewhat less favorable ratings on comfort and communication, experienced EHFR and PAPR users still prefer reusable respirators over N95s in certain higher risk scenarios. This suggests that reusable respirators are an acceptable alternative to N95 respirators in health care and offer 1 viable solution to prevent pandemic-generated respirator shortages.

Keywords: Comfort; Elastomeric respirator; N95 respirator; Powered air-purifying respirator; Preference; Protection.

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Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1
Likert scale responses of respirator users regarding how much they liked the comfort of the respirator (Panel a), communication while wearing the respirator (Panel b), how well they believe the respirator protects them (Panel c), and how confident they were that the respirator would protect them based on their fit testing or respirator training experiences (Panel d).
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