Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments
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| Language: | English |
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University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
2017
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1512045176317312 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin1512045176317312 |
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oai_dc |
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NDLTD |
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English |
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Environmental Health Home Healthcare Workers Respiratory Protection Surgical Smoke Exposure N95 FFR Surgical Mask Aerosolized Medication Exposure |
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Environmental Health Home Healthcare Workers Respiratory Protection Surgical Smoke Exposure N95 FFR Surgical Mask Aerosolized Medication Exposure Elmashae, Yousef Saleh Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments |
| author |
Elmashae, Yousef Saleh |
| author_facet |
Elmashae, Yousef Saleh |
| author_sort |
Elmashae, Yousef Saleh |
| title |
Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments |
| title_short |
Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments |
| title_full |
Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments |
| title_fullStr |
Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments |
| title_sort |
evaluating the aerosol exposure and respiratory protection of healthcare workers in different environments |
| publisher |
University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2017 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1512045176317312 |
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AT elmashaeyousefsaleh evaluatingtheaerosolexposureandrespiratoryprotectionofhealthcareworkersindifferentenvironments |
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1719453235598589952 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin15120451763173122021-08-03T07:04:56Z Evaluating the Aerosol Exposure and Respiratory Protection of Healthcare Workers in Different Environments Elmashae, Yousef Saleh Environmental Health Home Healthcare Workers Respiratory Protection Surgical Smoke Exposure N95 FFR Surgical Mask Aerosolized Medication Exposure The main goal of this research was to evaluate the aerosol exposure and respiratory protection of healthcare workers in different settings, including operating rooms (ORs) and residential environments. The dissertation presents two laboratory simulation studies and one field study. Physical characteristics of both surgical smoke and aerosolized medications were investigated. Surgical mask (SM) and N95 facepiece filtering respirators (FFRs), as well as a modified N95 FFR utilizing a new faceseal technology were examined in terms of their performance in providing respiratory protection to healthcare workers.This dissertation contains three related studies (A-C).In Study A (Chapter 1), the tests were conducted in an OR-simulating exposure chamber with the surgical smoke generated by electrocautery and measured in the breathing zone with four aerosol spectrometers at different air exchange rates. The particle concentration significantly exceeded the background concentration. Additionally, 14 subjects were recruited and tested with two commercially available N95 FFRs and two modified N95 FFRs. The data suggested that the surgical smoke exposure may result in a considerable inhalation dose for unprotected individuals in ORs. The study revealed that wearing a conventional N95 FFR significantly decreased human exposure to surgical smoke. The new faceseal technology provided even higher respiratory protection. In Study B (Chapter 2), devoted to home healthcare workers (HHCWs), one model of an N95 FFR and one model of an SM were tested in residential environments against aerosols by three subjects. The study revealed that the N95 FFR offers a much higher protection level as compared to a surgical mask during various activities performed by a healthcare worker in a patient’s home. The performance of N95 FFR and SM was found to be dependent on activities and/or body movements. In Study C (Chapter 3), a nebulizer-based aerosol delivery system was used to aerosolize four medications as well as deionized water (control). A simulation facility was designed and built involving two manikins: the HHCW-simulating manikin and the patient-simulating manikin. The aerosols were measured at three distances from the aerosol source (patient mouth). The HHCW’s exposure to aerosolized medications was found significant and exceeded the background level by one to four orders of magnitude. The particle size distributions of the four medications revealed similar trends with no significant differences found in most cases. The total aerosol mass concentration in the breathing zone of the simulated HHCW was not significantly affected by medication type. Therefore, it was concluded that NaCl can serve as a surrogate for assessing aerosol exposures for the selected aerosolized medications.Overall, this dissertation contributes to the scientific field by generating novel data on the aerosol exposure and respiratory protection of healthcare workers in different healthcare environments and for different aerosol hazards, which have not been adequately investigated in the past. The data obtained in this research effort will help respirator manufacturers design better respiratory protective devices (RPDs) for healthcare workers. The findings presented in this dissertation can also be used by regulatory agencies to create respiratory protection guidelines for protecting healthcare professionals at their workplaces. 2017 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1512045176317312 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1512045176317312 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |