Disinfection of reusable elastomeric respirators by health care workers: A feasibility study and development of standard operating procedures

Background: This was a feasibility study in a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) to be used by health care workers to disinfect reusable elastomeric respirators under pandemic conditions. Registered and licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, aides, clinical technicians, and physicians took part in the study. Methods: Health care worker volunteers were provided with manufacturers' cleaning and disinfection instructions and all necessary supplies. They were observed and filmed. SOPs were developed, based on these observations, and tested on naive volunteer health care workers. Error rates using manufacturers' instructions and SOPs were compared. Results: When using respirator manufacturers' cleaning and disinfection instructions, without specific training or supervision, all subjects made multiple errors. When using the SOPs developed in the study, without specific training or guidance, naive health care workers disinfected respirators with zero errors. Conclusion: Reusable facial protective equipment may be disinfected by health care workers with minimal training using SOPs. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.