Staff View: The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing

The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing

Background: The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 has caught the world off guard. In the nick of time, respirators and other personal protective equipment turned into highly priced commodities. Many healthcare workers donned respirators for the first time, some donned surgical masks and interchanged them...

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Main Authors:	Cheng Siang, Tan, Ashley Edward Roy, Soosay
Format:	Proceeding
Language:	English
Published:	2022
Subjects:	Q Science (General) RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Online Access:	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39614/1/Conference_Book_SEAOHUN_2022_International_Conference-54.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39614/ https://www.seaohun.org/seaohun-2022-international-conference
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id	my.unimas.ir.39614
record_format	eprints
spelling	my.unimas.ir.396142022-09-19T08:45:45Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39614/ The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing Cheng Siang, Tan Ashley Edward Roy, Soosay Q Science (General) RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine Background: The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 has caught the world off guard. In the nick of time, respirators and other personal protective equipment turned into highly priced commodities. Many healthcare workers donned respirators for the first time, some donned surgical masks and interchanged them with respirators, depending on their availability. Respirators work by achieving a tight seal with the operators’ face in which respirator fit can be determined via respirator fit testing. Infectious aerosol can be inhaled via the leak, endangering the health of the users. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the knowledge and awareness of respirator fit testing among the healthcare workers at the time of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Sarawak, Malaysia. Methods: We conducted an online workshop called “Proper use of facemask & respirator at the time of COVID-19 pandemic” with the objective of providing an authoritative guidance on the selection and use of various face coverings and respirators. The workshop was hosted live via Facebook and YouTube. At the end of it, we provided self-administered questionnaires to gauge the knowledge and awareness of the participants. Results: The workshop was attended by 280 participants, of which 188 responded to the questionnaire. Slightly more than half (52.7%, n=99/188) of the respondents have never heard about respirator fit testing. Most of the participants were healthcare workers (76.6%, n=144/188) and 70.8% (n=102/144) of them mentioned the requirement of respirator use at work. However, only 48% (n=49/102) have been respirator fit-tested. Of the healthcare workers who needed to use respirator for work but were yet to be fit-tested, 22.6% (n=12/53) were still willing to don non-fit tested respirators for work due to the current pandemic circumstances. Conclusions: The awareness of fit testing is inadequate, and each healthcare institution should kindle a robust and active respirator fit testing program to prepare for the next pandemic. 2022-09-06 Proceeding PeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39614/1/Conference_Book_SEAOHUN_2022_International_Conference-54.pdf Cheng Siang, Tan and Ashley Edward Roy, Soosay (2022) The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing. In: SEAOHUN 2022 International Conference, 6-7th September 2022, Grand Richmond Hotel, Nonthaburi, Thailand. https://www.seaohun.org/seaohun-2022-international-conference
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
building	Centre for Academic Information Services (CAIS)
collection	Institutional Repository
continent	Asia
country	Malaysia
content_provider	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
content_source	UNIMAS Institutional Repository
url_provider	http://ir.unimas.my/
language	English
topic	Q Science (General) RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
spellingShingle	Q Science (General) RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine Cheng Siang, Tan Ashley Edward Roy, Soosay The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing
description	Background: The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 has caught the world off guard. In the nick of time, respirators and other personal protective equipment turned into highly priced commodities. Many healthcare workers donned respirators for the first time, some donned surgical masks and interchanged them with respirators, depending on their availability. Respirators work by achieving a tight seal with the operators’ face in which respirator fit can be determined via respirator fit testing. Infectious aerosol can be inhaled via the leak, endangering the health of the users. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the knowledge and awareness of respirator fit testing among the healthcare workers at the time of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Sarawak, Malaysia. Methods: We conducted an online workshop called “Proper use of facemask & respirator at the time of COVID-19 pandemic” with the objective of providing an authoritative guidance on the selection and use of various face coverings and respirators. The workshop was hosted live via Facebook and YouTube. At the end of it, we provided self-administered questionnaires to gauge the knowledge and awareness of the participants. Results: The workshop was attended by 280 participants, of which 188 responded to the questionnaire. Slightly more than half (52.7%, n=99/188) of the respondents have never heard about respirator fit testing. Most of the participants were healthcare workers (76.6%, n=144/188) and 70.8% (n=102/144) of them mentioned the requirement of respirator use at work. However, only 48% (n=49/102) have been respirator fit-tested. Of the healthcare workers who needed to use respirator for work but were yet to be fit-tested, 22.6% (n=12/53) were still willing to don non-fit tested respirators for work due to the current pandemic circumstances. Conclusions: The awareness of fit testing is inadequate, and each healthcare institution should kindle a robust and active respirator fit testing program to prepare for the next pandemic.
format	Proceeding
author	Cheng Siang, Tan Ashley Edward Roy, Soosay
author_facet	Cheng Siang, Tan Ashley Edward Roy, Soosay
author_sort	Cheng Siang, Tan
title	The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing
title_short	The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing
title_full	The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing
title_fullStr	The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing
title_full_unstemmed	The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing
title_sort	knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing
publishDate	2022
url	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39614/1/Conference_Book_SEAOHUN_2022_International_Conference-54.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/39614/ https://www.seaohun.org/seaohun-2022-international-conference
_version_	1744652130593013760
score	13.211869

The knowledge and awareness of the importance of respirator fit testing

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