|
IOM Recommends Respiratory Protection Guidelines for H1N1
September 4, 2009 – The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released its
report on Respiratory Protection for
Healthcare Workers against the novel H1N1 flu virus.
The IOM committee, citing increasing evidence that this disease can be
transmitted through airborne pathways, recommends that the current Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) guidelines concerning respiratory protection for
healthcare workers be followed and enforced.
“The IAFF is hopeful that this report will end the ridiculous debate once and
for all that surgical masks provide respiratory protection," says IAFF General
President Harold Schaitberger. Surgical masks were never intended to be
respiratory protection, and should never be used for this purpose.”
Healthcare workers, which include fire fighters, paramedics and EMTs who provide
pre-hospital emergency medical care must be provided respirators for protection
against airborne infectious diseases.
The IOM report reinforces this objective, which will now allow scientists and
policy makers to finally move on to the more important issue of what level of
respiratory protection is appropriate for the current threat of the novel H1N1
virus.
The IAFF recommendation remains that for protection against airborne infectious
agents -- such as the novel H1N1 virus -- healthcare workers, including all fire
fighters and emergency medical service personnel, must be provided with a P100
respirator as a minimum level of respiratory protection.
This recommendation is based on the fact that there is no permissible exposure
limit for airborne infectious agents and is consistent with Occupational Health
and Safety Administration (OSHA) guidelines on the selection and use of
respirators. In addition, it's consistent with the California standard on
Aerosol Transmissible Diseases, which now requires that paramedics and other
emergency medical personnel in field operations be provided with and use a
powered air purifying respirator (PAPR) with a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA)
filter or a P100 respirator in lieu of a PAPR.
"Some policy makers have begun to downplay the IOM report because it does
not consider cost or feasibility issues," notes Schaitberger. "But the CDC should
not make the cost of respiratory protection the limiting factor for protecting
workers; it must recommend the protection that will most effectively protect the
worker."
Supplies of respirators will likely be severely limited during a flu pandemic.
For this reason, it is extremely important to correct this problem now, and not
change guidelines to accommodate it.
Some detractors of the IOM report cite that healthcare workers can’t or won’t
tolerate use of respirators for extended periods of time or that use of a
respirator will compromise patient care. "When faced with the choice of wearing
a respirator or becoming extremely ill or dying, we believe health care workers,
including members of the IAFF, will adjust to properly wearing the required
respirator," says Schaitberger.
Download the report.
IAFF Response to H1NI (swine) Flu Outbreak |
