Filtering Facepiece Respirators for Healthcare Workers Protection in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

Chee Tao Chang; Philip Rajan; Victor Chee Wai Hoe

doi:10.21315/mjms2021.28.3.14

Filtering Facepiece Respirators for Healthcare Workers Protection in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic

Malays J Med Sci. 2021 Jun;28(3):151-154. doi: 10.21315/mjms2021.28.3.14. Epub 2021 Jun 30.

Authors

Chee Tao Chang¹, Philip Rajan¹, Victor Chee Wai Hoe^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Clinical Research Centre, Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
² Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence-based Practice, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Occupational Safety Health and Environmental Unit, Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abstract

Protecting healthcare workers (HCWs) who are in the frontline during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic is paramount. The filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) or N95 respirator is one of the personal protective equipment (PPE) used to protect HCWs exposed to airborne pathogens in clinical practice or when performing aerosol generating procedures. The FFRs should be able to serve the intended purpose without causing additional health and safety hazards for the HCWs. The following commentary will provide some basic information on selecting correct FFRs and conducting fitness test.

Keywords: COVID-19; N95 respirators; healthcare workers; occupational health; personal protective equipment.