4 This process would place a high time burden on individual HCWs. OSHA guidelines for cleaning elastomeric respirators involve removing filters, disassembling facepieces, immersing in detergent, scrubbing, submerging in chlorine or iodine disinfectant agent, rinsing, drying, and reassembling. Little guidance exists regarding the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting and whether these tasks should be centralized or performed by the individual user. The respirators are quality checked and discarded for any visual markings.Ĭleaning and Disinfecting Elastomeric Respirators Cosmetic stains, blood contamination, and soiling on the respirator necessitate disposal, not decontamination. An important distinction is that N95s are not cleaned. The maximum number of cycles is a function of the specific decontamination protocol and type of respirator. Respirators should be marked after each decontamination cycle and disposed of after the maximum reprocessed number has been reached. The decontaminated N95 respirators can be returned to the individual person “index user” or to a general pool of reprocessed respirators. 2 Approved N95 respirators are delivered to the decontamination site for a 4- to 8-hour process: respirators are hung in a closed space, gased with hydrogen peroxide (H 2O 2) vapor, and left for a clearance phase during which H 2O 2 is converted to oxygen and water vapor. Under the FDA EUA, Battelle Critical Care Decontamination System was 1 process approved to decontaminate N95 respirators. Reprocessed N95s have been through a decontamination process. The HCW should don the next respirator in order of least recently used.
Individual respirators are stored separately in their own paper bag at the end of the day. A potential model for reuse is a 4- to 5-day cycle of 4–5 respirators in which the HCW wears a different respirator each day. Any of these signs may prompt the user to discard the respirator.
HCWs should perform their own seal test with each donning and evaluate for increased breathing difficulties. 6 Furthermore, the HCW should check the respirator for tears, strap breakage, and nosepiece fractures. The CDC suggests up to 5 uses to ensure an adequate safety margin. Limited reuse of an N95 respirator is defined as wearing the same N95 respirator for multiple encounters with patients and donning and doffing it in between encounters. Per the CDC, the maximum recommended period of use when practicing extended use is 8–12 hours. Extended use of an N95 respirator is defined as wearing the same N95 respirator for repeated encounters with several patients, without removing the respirator between encounters.
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