Pandemic preparedness and protective clothing: priorities of health care workers in a Canadian teaching hospital.

摘要

Emerging infectious diseases are part of the new reality for front-line health care workers (HCWs).1 Their input is required when protective clothing policies are drafted. Many respiratory interventions in patients with febrile respiratory illnesses put HCWs at high risk for disease transmission. During the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis of 2003, 9% of HCWs in Toronto who were involved with the intubation of SARS patients contracted the disease.2 At the time, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed protective clothing recommendations for HCWs who were performing aerosol-generating procedures in patients with SARS. At a minimum, they stipulated the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) combined with an N95 mask or the use of a personal protective clothing system that combined higher levels of respiratory protection, such as a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR).