Diversey Holdings, Ltd. – As a result of the COVID pandemic, there has been a scarcity of single-use face masks/respirators for healthcare workers in many facilities. Healthcare facilities are increasingly providing Powered Air-Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) for staff use, but there has been limited information on the impact of routine cleaning and disinfection in addition to potential damage to PAPR components.
This study, conducted by Diversey‘s Global Infection Prevention Application Experts and published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene investigated the risk of damage to PAPR components from routine disinfection and found that commonly used PAPRs are highly compatible with certain disinfectants even in conditions of extreme exposure, demonstrating a low risk of damage to PAPR components from routine disinfection for the tested disinfectants even after a high number of disinfection events. The study built on Diversey’s prior research into the impact of routine cleaning and disinfection on personal protective equipment (PPE) used in healthcare.
“During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, low supplies of single use respiratory protection forced facilities to reuse medical masks and N95 respirators, even with limited evidence that they could be properly decontaminated between uses. Our study tested four commercial PAPRs with their components exposed to disinfectants for prolonged periods of time to simulate thousands of cycles of manual disinfection, testing for evidence of surface damage from exposure to the disinfectants,” commented Peter Teska, Global Infection Prevention Application Expert.
Reusable Powered Air-Purifying Respirators are extensively used in healthcare facilities to protect healthcare workers during the delivery of care, and are an alternative to wearing a face mask or respirator when providing care to patients with certain respiratory infections and provide a more sustainable alternative to protect healthcare workers when used with the right decontamination protocols. Healthcare facilities should test reusable PPE for compatibility with disinfectants used to decontaminate the PPE between uses.