Development of a rapid, multi-organisational, multi-modal assessment of a newly available disposable respirator

• Published in: Infection, disease & health disease & health, 2024-08, Vol.29 (3), p.124-129
• Main Authors: Ng, Irene, Bodas, Charles, Roberts, Megan, Coe, Andrew, Smith, Michelle, McCann, Helen, Williams, Daryl Lindsay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Duckbill P2/N95 respirators; Filtering facepiece respirator; Quantitative fit test; Respirator user assessments; Respiratory protection
• ISSN: 2468-0451; 2468-0869; 2468-0869
• DOI: 10.1016/j.idh.2024.03.002

A rapid large-scale evaluation of a newly available duckbill style P2/N95 respirator, the Care Essentials (CE) MSK-003, was required to determine its suitability for deployment into the Victorian healthcare service. The aims of this study were to assess the feasibility of establishing a rapid, multi-organisational and multi-modal evaluation of the respirator, and to investigate whether this respirator would meet the needs of healthcare workers. The evaluation was a collaboration among three healthcare organisations – two tertiary hospitals in metropolitan Melbourne and a rural-based hospital. Participants were healthcare workers undertaking their routine fit tests. They were required to complete quantitative fit testing and a usability assessment survey on the CE MSK-003 respirator. The a priori performance criteria were set as fit test pass rate of >70%, plus satisfactory subjective overall comfort and performance assessments, defined as a rating of adequate, good, or very good in >90% of the cohort. A total of 1070 participants completed the multi-modal assessment within a month. Seventy-eight percent of participants passed their quantitative fit test. Over 90% of survey respondents reported that the CE MSK-003 was adequate, good or very good in terms of its overall comfort and performance assessments. We demonstrated that a multi-modal evaluation of a new respirator can be rapidly conducted with a high level of participation in a controlled, consistent manner across multiple organisations. The evaluation results of the CE MSK-003 respirator exceeded our predetermined (a priori) minimal criteria, making it suitable for broad distribution to healthcare organisations. •A rapid, multimodal, multi-organisational evaluation of a new respirator was achieved.•Over 1000 participants were included in the multimodal assessment within a month.•Care Essential MSK-003 respirator exceeded our predetermined (a priori) minimal criteria.•Care Essential MSK-003 is suitable for broad distribution to healthcare organisations.