Assessment of Elastomeric Respirators in Healthcare Delivery Settings Webinars

Assessment of Elastomeric Respirators in Healthcare Delivery Settings: Routine Elastomeric Use and Evaluations in healthcare (REUsE)

Date/Time: Tuesday, August 8, 2023, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. EDT

This webinar will present the findings of the study REUsE – Routine Elastomeric Use and Evaluations in Healthcare – which focused on incorporating reusable elastomeric respirators into routine healthcare delivery. This study was contracted and completed by Wayne State University, Emory University, and University of Texas. A demonstration project was conducted over a three-month period in three hospital settings where healthcare personnel routinely wore respiratory protection. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and practicability of U.S. healthcare delivery organizations routinely using reusable respirators; this included not only the comfort and user preference of wearing elastomeric respirators, but also training in and use of one disinfection method, ease of job performance while wearing the respirator, and the logistics of reusable respirators in the hospital setting.

View recording of webinar.

Speakers

Caitlin McClain, MS, GSP, is an ORISE Fellow within NIOSH/NPPTL’s Research Branch. She has been with NIOSH/NPPTL since 2015 in various fellowship positions. Caitlin attended West Virginia University, where she earned both a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Physiology and a master’s degree in Safety Management. While at NIOSH, the majority of research performed has been aimed at understanding the use and best practices of elastomeric half-mask respirators (EHMRs) in the workplace.

Colleen Kraft, MD, MSc is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease at Emory University. She is clinically trained as an infectious diseases physician and medical microbiologist, and sees inpatient consults at Emory University Hospital. She is the Associate Chief Medical Officer at Emory University Hospital and is focused on research involving healthcare innovation, human factors, and healthcare personnel safety. She is a member of CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and is past president of the American Society for Microbiology.

Lisa Pompeii is a professor at the University of Texas and the Director of Patient Services Research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She is an occupational health nurse and epidemiologist with research expertise in occupational health issues among healthcare workers. Dr. Pompeii is recognized as a content expert in respiratory protection in health care. She has developed numerous nationally funded training programs and led several research studies focusing on OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard, as well as use of elastomeric respirators in health care.

Youcheng Liu is an Associate Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and Associate Director of Preventive Medicine Residency Program in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences in the School of Medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is an industrial hygienist and epidemiologist. His research has focused on assessing environmental and occupational exposures to chemical hazards and biological agents, evaluating the resultant health outcomes (such as asthma, COPD, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes), and identifying effective and feasible measures and strategies to reduce exposures and prevent related diseases. He has conducted collaborative research in China, Guatemala, and the U.S. He has conducted respiratory protection research in boilermakers, auto body shop spray painters and repair workers, healthcare workers, and isocyanate fabric-coating workers. The respirators he has studied include elastomeric half-mask respirators, powered air-purifying respirators, supplied-air respirators, and particulate filtering facepiece respirators.

Assessment of Elastomeric Respirators in Healthcare Delivery Settings: Randomized-controlled Elastomeric Studies: disinfection Safety and Effectiveness (RESponSE)

Date/Time: Tuesday, July 11, 2023, 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EDT

This webinar will present the findings of a disinfection study on an elastomeric half mask respirator (EHMR) using common disinfectants found in a hospital setting. This study was contracted and completed by Emory University and University of Texas. The aim of this study is to determine the efficacy of common hospital disinfectants on an EHMR, assess and compare different disinfection methods, and determine best practices. The findings of this study will be used in follow-up research incorporating EHMRs into routine healthcare delivery to better understand their feasibility for patient care.

For more information, please email odadmin@cdc.gov.

View recording of webinar.

Speakers

Dr. Lisa Casanova is an environmental microbiologist and Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the Georgia State University School of Public Health in Atlanta, Georgia. A graduate of the University of Arizona and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, she leads a microbiology research laboratory focused on the fate and transmission of infectious diseases in the environment. Her research focuses on urban water quality, healthcare associated infections, occupational health and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, and transmission of viruses in the built environment.

Dr. Lisa Pompeii is a professor at the University of Texas and the Director of Patient Services Research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. She is an occupational health nurse and epidemiologist with research expertise in occupational health issues among healthcare workers. Dr. Pompeii is recognized as a content expert in respiratory protection in health care. She has developed numerous nationally funded training programs and led several research studies focusing on OSHA’s Respiratory Protection Standard, as well as use of elastomeric respirators in health care. The disinfection study on elastomeric respirators in healthcare settings involved a multidisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in occupational health and infectious disease epidemiology.