Using Public Feedback About the Use of Elastomeric Half Mask Respirators to Inform a National Deployment Study Within Health Settings

Reusable elastomeric half mask respirators (EHMRs) have been encouraged for use during conventional, contingency, and crisis capacity in healthcare delivery settings as an alternative to disposable N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs). However, standard, operationalized guidelines for implementing EHMRs in healthcare and first responder settings are needed to facilitate such integration. Specifically, research is needed to identify and address specialized concerns in healthcare delivery settings beyond hospitals to understand the widespread barriers to EHMR use and how organizational culture can support or hinder EHMR adoption. The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) requested support from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to develop its strategy to purchase and distribute EHMRs to interested health organizations. To support this SNS effort, NIOSH published a Federal Register Notice (FRN) to request formative input from the public on the nationwide distribution of EHMRs and provided the technical analysis of the responses. Twenty-two representatives from first responder organizations, healthcare and dental associations, manufacturers, higher education, medical/nursing societies, and a union provided comments for consideration. This feedback was qualitatively analyzed to identify themes among the comments. This paper discusses patterns that emerged in the feedback provided within the primary topics of perceived advantages and disadvantages of EHMRs and key considerations for a successful national deployment of EHMRs. This paper also discusses how the formative feedback received was critical to informing the SNS's strategy to purchase and deploy EHMRs for longitudinal demonstration projects with the goal to produce updated EHMR implementation guidelines and best practices.