This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (3)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Topic Collections  • Viral Infections  • Occupational and Environmental Medicine  • Public Health, Other  • Infectious Diseases  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: Anticipated respirator intolerance and supply shortages during future influenza pandemics prompted the Institute of Medicine to review respirator use in health care workers¹ and consider whether disposable models could be reused or modified for reuse.² One option involves placing a medical mask over a disposable respirator to diminish contamination and attrition.¹ However, little is known about the workplace tolerability of respirators commonly worn by health care workers, who may be called on to wear respiratory protection for the duration of their work shifts for several consecutive weeks during a pandemic.^3-4 We estimated the length of time health care workers would tolerate wearing commonly used respirators while performing their typical occupational duties.

Methods

Participants were 27 volunteers (mean [SD] age, 48 [11] years; range, 25-65 years; 15 women) among approximately 225 health care workers employed by the local Veterans Health System who were approached. The inclusion criterion was having . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Lewis J. Radonovich Jr, MD
lewis.radonovich@va.gov
Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Gainesville, Florida

Jing Cheng, PhD
University of Florida College of Medicine
Gainesville

Brian V. Shenal, PhD
Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Salem, Virginia

Michael Hodgson, MD, MPH
Veterans Health Administration
Washington, DC

Bradley S. Bender, MD
Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Gainesville

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Preventing the Soldiers of Health Care From Becoming Victims on the Pandemic Battlefield: Respirators or Surgical Masks as the Armor of Choice
Radonovich et al.
dmphp 2009;3:S203-S210.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Novel H1N1 Influenza and Respiratory Protection for Health Care Workers
Shine et al.
NEJM 2009;361:1823-1825.
FULL TEXT