Evaluation of the protective efficacy of a user seal check for N95 respirators through quantitative fit testing in an ambulance crew.

ABSTRACT: To ensure health and wellbeing of healthcare workers, prevention of infection is essential. Although N95 filtering facepiece respirators (N95 respirators) are potentially effective respiratory protective devices, scientific evaluation for healthcare workers, particularly for ambulance crews has been insufficient. We investigated if N95 respirator user seal checking ensures seal quality through quantitative fit testing among ambulance crews. A user seal check was performed according to the manufacturer's instructions and based on each participant's subjective assessment of fit. A quantitative test was then performed using a dedicated counter. In the results, although the pass rates for both the user seal check and the quantitative test exceeded 50%, the kappa coefficients between the two te

SUBMITTER: Sawada H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12491425 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature