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Original title: “Protective mask + surgical mask”: Is it feasible? After receiving the guideline document, the SIFIC team read through the original text overnight. It can be said that under the background that many medical staff are infected by the new coronavirus, “everyone feels insecure”, this guideline provides highly operational guidance for the prevention and control of infection in medical institutions, and many prevention and control measures have more specific and detailed guidance. However, in the annex of this guideline, the process of wearing and taking off protective equipment for medical staff, people are confused about the requirements for wearing protective equipment when entering the isolation ward. Let’s first look at the original text of this paragraph: (1) medical staff enter the clean area through the special passage for employees, wear medical protective masks, disposable hats or cloth hats, change work shoes and socks in turn after washing hands carefully, and change hand-brushing clothes and trousers if conditions permit. (2) Wear work clothes before entering the potentially contaminated area, and wear gloves to enter the potentially contaminated area if the hand skin is damaged or suspected to be damaged. (3) Before entering the contaminated area,KN95 Face Mask with Five Layers, take off the work clothes and wear protective suit or isolation clothes, and wear disposable hats and disposable surgical mask (two layers of hats and masks), protective glasses, gloves and shoe covers. Expand the full text As can be seen from the description in the annex of this guideline, the guideline recommends that medical staff should wear “protective mask + surgical mask” when entering the isolation ward, that is,KN95 Mask for Epidemic Prevention and Control, wear two layers of masks and two layers of hats at the same time, which is quite different from the previous concept of sensory control. People are mainly confused about the following aspects: Filtration coefficient As we all know, the filtration efficiency of medical protective masks (including N95 mask) that meet the standards can reach 95% for non-oily particles, while the filtration efficiency of surgical masks is generally 30%. Adding a layer of surgical masks on the outside of protective masks has little effect on improving bacterial filtration. So, can the practice of “surgical mask + protective mask” really protect the wearer better? Source: surgical mask (YY 0469-2011) Face fit Affect the protective performance of a mask, in addition to filtration, there is also a very critical point is the tightness of the mask, because the facial muscles and skin are relatively soft, under normal circumstances, 3 Ply Disposable Protective Face Mask ,Medical Disposable Coverall, the edge of the medical protective mask and the face can generally fit better. However, if a layer of surgical mask is added to the outside of the fully fitted medical protective mask, it will exert a force on the inner protective mask, which will cause the inner protective mask to be compressed and deformed. Can this guarantee its airtightness? Will it backfire and weaken the protective ability of medical protective masks? Source: SIFIC Moderator Share Comfortable ventilation If you really wear a medical protective mask, you will know how much resistance the standard wearing of a protective mask will add to people’s breathing, and it is already very difficult for a normal person to wear it for 2-3 hours. In addition to the protective suit, and the tense working atmosphere and psychological pressure, the comfort of medical protective masks is also very important for the wearer. However, if we also add a layer of surgical mask on top of the medical protective mask, it will undoubtedly be worse for the wearer. Source: Beijing News Inner layer protection During the discussion, some colleagues also mentioned that, according to the overall wearing and taking off process in this guideline, the “taking off” process recommended in this guideline is quite different from that in the past. This guideline requires that protective glasses, gloves and protective suit should be taken off and discarded in contaminated areas (in the past, it was generally recommended that they should be taken off in potentially contaminated areas (such as buffer areas)). The outer surgical masks and hats are also required to be removed from the contaminated area and cannot leave the contaminated area. Therefore, some colleagues think that the purpose is to use the inner protective mask and hat to protect the operator to enter the potentially contaminated area safely after taking off all the outer articles, so as to avoid cross-contamination in the potentially contaminated area as much as possible. That is to say, the real purpose of the outer surgical mask and hat is not only to enhance the “filtration” of the mask, but also to ensure that the inner protective mask and hat are “not contaminated”.
Operability The above view has been recognized by some peers, but other peers have raised objections. Yesterday, you should have seen on the Internet that Hubei Province has launched an emergency appeal to the state, hoping that the state can support 40 million masks and 5 million sets of protective suit to solve the shortage of materials for epidemic prevention and control. Infection and epidemic prevention is a war without smoke of gunpowder. If all kinds of treatment drugs are bullets and cannons in the war, then emergency protective materials are grain depots in the war, which are very important reserve baggage. Any mask is a very scarce material, how can such an important and scarce surgical mask, just to use as a “splash card”?! Can’t we just replace it with something else that’s not in short supply? For example: protective screen! International practice The formulation of sensory control measures is an evidence-based process, and any guideline should be supported by evidence-based basis, or draw lessons from international practices. However, in the guidelines issued by WHO, CDC of the United States, or other international organizations, we have hardly seen such a combination of “surgical mask + protective mask”. Of course,Medical Full Body Coverall, the trend of the spread of the new coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan is still grim, and other factors may have been taken into account when the state formulated the guidelines. We only analyze it from a purely technical point of view, which is not necessarily comprehensive and correct. What do you think about this topic? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below! Source: SIFIC Infection Official Micro Return to Sohu to see more Responsible Editor:. zjyuan-group.com