Bien Elizabeth Ann, Gillespie Gordon Lee, Betcher Cynthia Ann, Thrasher Terri L, Mingerink Donna R
University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati.
Workplace Health Saf. 2016 Dec;64(12):596-602. doi: 10.1177/2165079916657831. Epub 2016 Jul 20.
International travel and infectious respiratory illnesses worldwide place health care workers (HCWs) at increasing risk of respiratory exposures. To ensure the highest quality safety initiatives, one health care system used a quality improvement model of Plan-Do-Study-Act and guidance from Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) May 2015 Hospital Respiratory Protection Program (RPP) Toolkit to assess a current program. The toolkit aided in identification of opportunities for improvement within their well-designed RPP. One opportunity was requiring respirator use during aerosol-generating procedures for specific infectious illnesses. Observation data demonstrated opportunities to mitigate controllable risks including strap placement, user seal check, and reuse of disposable N95 filtering facepiece respirators. Subsequent interdisciplinary collaboration resulted in other ideas to decrease risks and increase protection from potentially infectious respiratory illnesses. The toolkit's comprehensive document to evaluate the program showed that while the OSHA standards have not changed, the addition of the toolkit can better protect HCWs.
全球范围内的国际旅行和传染性呼吸道疾病使医护人员面临呼吸道暴露的风险不断增加。为确保最高质量的安全举措，一个医疗系统采用了计划-执行-研究-行动的质量改进模型，并依据美国职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）2015年5月的《医院呼吸防护计划（RPP）工具包》中的指南来评估现行计划。该工具包有助于在其精心设计的呼吸防护计划中识别改进机会。其中一个机会是要求在针对特定传染性疾病的气溶胶生成操作过程中使用呼吸器。观察数据显示出减轻可控风险的机会，包括头带位置、使用者密封检查以及一次性N95过滤式面罩呼吸器的重复使用。随后的跨学科合作产生了其他降低风险和增强对潜在传染性呼吸道疾病防护的想法。该工具包用于评估该计划的综合文件表明，虽然OSHA标准未变，但添加该工具包可以更好地保护医护人员。
