August 5, 2020

Reprocessing Filtering Facepiece Respirators in Primary Care Using Medical Autoclave: Prospective, Bench-to-Bedside, Single-Centre Study

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting

• Thirty-three respirators were decontaminated with a medical autoclave up to three times and tested for loss of structural integrity and ability to filter small particles. FFP-2 respirators performed well: all the samples retained their shape and at least 90% of their filtering capacity after one, two, and three decontaminations, suggesting that they might be successfully used and cleaned repeatedly in primary care settings.  

Harskamp et al. (Aug 4, 2020). Reprocessing Filtering Facepiece Respirators in Primary Care Using Medical Autoclave: Prospective, Bench-to-Bedside, Single-Centre Study. BMJ Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039454