Overcoming Communication Barriers: An evaluation of communication devices for healthcare providers wearing powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs)

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased use of Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs), by health care providers to mitigate the risk of viral transmission, especially for aerosol-generating procedures. In this study, we evaluate communication devices that could be used concurrently wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perioperative care and operating room management 2021-06, Vol.23, p.100163-100163, Article 100163
Main Authors: Hebenstreit, Trevor, Ho, Geoffrey, Tronnier, Amy, Chu, Everett, Benjenk, Ivy, Dangerfield, Paul, Keneally, Ryan, Liu, Timothy, Sherman, Marian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication Barriers
COVID 19
PAPR
PPE
Quality Improvement
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Summary:The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased use of Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs), by health care providers to mitigate the risk of viral transmission, especially for aerosol-generating procedures. In this study, we evaluate communication devices that could be used concurrently with PAPRs to promote improved communication. We tested two devices, a Bluetooth earpiece and a throat microphone that operated over mobile networks, against a control scenario in a simulated operating room environment with participants donning PAPRs. Participants read a short paragraph to each other, transcribed short phrases, and evaluated the scenarios according to speech intelligibility, ease of use, and comfort. There were 30 participants of varying PAPR experience. The Bluetooth headset had the most accurate transcriptions, followed by control, and lastly the neckpiece (94.7%vs 88.4%vs 76%, p
ISSN:2405-6030
2405-6030
DOI:10.1016/j.pcorm.2021.100163