The impact of FFP3 respirators on the blood saturation

This study aims to investigate whether wearing a filtering facepiece class 3 respirators with personal protective equipment (FPP3/PPE) during work in the intensive care unit (ICU) affects the blood saturation (SpO2), the heart rate (HR), and the well-being of health care workers (HCWs). This prelimi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2022-01, Vol.12 (1), p.1335-8, Article 1335
Main Authors: Wojtasz, Izabela, Jaracz, Krystyna, Sobczyński, Paweł, Drużdż, Artur, Dyk, Danuta, Kaźmierski, Radosław
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
692/1537
692/700
692/700/3160
692/700/459
Adult
Blood
Female
Health care
Health Personnel
Heart rate
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Male
Masks
Medical personnel
Middle Aged
multidisciplinary
Occupational Exposure
Personal protective equipment
Protective equipment
Respirators
Respiratory Protective Devices
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Well being
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study aims to investigate whether wearing a filtering facepiece class 3 respirators with personal protective equipment (FPP3/PPE) during work in the intensive care unit (ICU) affects the blood saturation (SpO2), the heart rate (HR), and the well-being of health care workers (HCWs). This preliminary study included a group of 21 volunteers (including 16 females (76%), with a median age of 23 years). Each worker served as his own control and performed the test two times: they wore the FFP3/PPE and did not wear it for a three-hour shift in the ICU. The working with an FFP3/PPE compared to not working with an FFP3/PPE caused a significant, but within normal ranges, influence on the level of SpO2 with a mean decrease of − 1.43%. The highest reduction in the SpO2 was − 2.29% and occurred after 150 min of work. All of the score scales of the well-being markers increased consecutively but moderately during the shift while wearing the FFP3/PPE. We assume that a 3-h shift rhythm is a safe and reliable solution, i.e., three hours of working in the FFP3/PPE in the ICU, followed by rest or working without an FFP3/PPE.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-022-05319-3