Face Masks
OVERVIEW
- multiple types of face mask are used for personal protection
USES
- personal protection
- protection of patient from health care nasopharyngeal secretions
DESCRIPTION
Standard Surgical Facemask (some come with a visor attached)
N95 Face Mask (‘duckbill’)
N100 Face Mask
- see here
METHOD OF INSERTION AND/OR USE
- placed over the mouth and nose
OTHER INFORMATION
Surgical Face Mask
- designed to catch bacteria shed in liquid droplets and aerosol form from the wearer’s mouth and nose
- can protect wearer from being splashed in the mouth from body fluids
- also serves as a reminder not to touch mouth or nose
- they do not prevent inhalation of bacteria or viruses
N95
- Used for respiratory droplet infection spread (eg SARS, influenza, Tb) for general presence in room (not procedures)
- used for reverse barrier nursing in severely immunocompromised patients
- certified to filter 95% of particles of a particular test size
- The N refers to the ability to resist oil (N stands for Non-oil resistant). R means resistant to oil and P means oil proof
- filters out the droplets that carry viruses (the viruses themselves would be small enough to pass through the filter)
- should not be put back on if removed
- should be replaced every 6 hours (WHO recommendation)
N100
- more expensive
- highest filtering of respiratory particles/diseases
- CDC recommends masks better than N95 for procedures likely to produce droplets (e.g. airway suctioning, intubation) if airborne precautions are needed
Critical Care
Compendium
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at the Alfred ICU in Melbourne. He is also a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University. He is a co-founder of the Australia and New Zealand Clinician Educator Network (ANZCEN) and is the Lead for the ANZCEN Clinician Educator Incubator programme. He is on the Board of Directors for the Intensive Care Foundation and is a First Part Examiner for the College of Intensive Care Medicine. He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives.
After finishing his medical degree at the University of Auckland, he continued post-graduate training in New Zealand as well as Australia’s Northern Territory, Perth and Melbourne. He has completed fellowship training in both intensive care medicine and emergency medicine, as well as post-graduate training in biochemistry, clinical toxicology, clinical epidemiology, and health professional education.
He is actively involved in in using translational simulation to improve patient care and the design of processes and systems at Alfred Health. He coordinates the Alfred ICU’s education and simulation programmes and runs the unit’s education website, INTENSIVE. He created the ‘Critically Ill Airway’ course and teaches on numerous courses around the world. He is one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) and is co-creator of litfl.com, the RAGE podcast, the Resuscitology course, and the SMACC conference.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Twitter, he is @precordialthump.
| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC