Coming Soon…

Dr. Christopher Coffey, PhD – NIOSH

This portion of the webinar will describe the different PAPRs and the NIOSH approval requirements, including:

1. Overview of PAPR types
2. Current approval performance requirements
3. Proposed changes to approval requirements
4. Relationship of proposal to use of PAPRs in healthcare

Dr. Julie Cahn, DNP, RN, CNOR, CNS-CP – AORN

This portion of the webinar will cover the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) recommendations related to PAPR use in the OR.

1. Recommendations on PAPR use in the OR
2. Real-life challenges when PAPRs are needed for use in the OR
3. Clarifying confusion on surgical helmet systems and mask selection in the OR
4. Further considerations

Maryann Gruden, MSN, CRNP, NP-C, COHN-S/CM – AOHP

This portion of the webinar will provide an overview of the numerous respiratory protection resources that are available for both respiratory protection program leaders and healthcare staff.

1. Role of respirators in the hierarchy of safety controls
2. Description of the 2011 IOM letter report on respiratory protection
3. Review respiratory protection resources provided by governmental and non-governmental agencies/organizations

Dr. Christopher Coffey has worked for NIOSH since 1978. He is currently the Associate Director for Science for the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. During his career, he has been involved with the NIOSH approval program for air-purifying respirators and fit testing research. He is currently on the team that is developing a proposed modification to the PAPR approval requirements, which could result in smaller and lighter weight PAPRs having the same effective particulate protections currently approved while increasing their utility in the healthcare sector.

Dr. Julie Cahn has worked as a perioperative nurse since 2003 in eight different facilities across the United States from Boston to Honolulu. Prior to joining AORN, much of her work revolved around professional development of perioperative nurses and ensuring excellence in patient outcomes. She is the lead author of the AORN Guideline for Sterile Technique which includes some guidance on the use of PAPRs in the OR.

MaryAnn Gruden is a certified Occupational Health Nurse-Specialist/Case Manager. She has spent 27 years managing occupational health services in the healthcare setting. One of her many responsibilities was ensuring appropriate respiratory protection for staff. Since the 2011 Institute of Medicine Letter Report on Occupational Health Nurses (OHN) and Respiratory Protection: Improving Education and Training, and as a member of the national Executive Board of the Association of Occupational Health Professionals in Healthcare (AOHP), she was a member of the national advisory group that developed OHN respiratory protection competencies and training programs. In addition, she served on The Joint Commission’s Respiratory Protection Technical Expert Panel. Currently, she continues to advocate for healthcare worker safety as an occupational health consultant.

Mary Ogg is a senior perioperative practice specialist at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) concentrating on patient and workplace safety. While at AORN she authored the Guideline for Surgical Smoke Safety and developed the surgical smoke tool kit. She has worked with NIOSH on several respiratory protection projects.

Megan Casey (moderator) is a Nurse Epidemiologist and Team Lead at NIOSH’s National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory supervising the Surveillance and Interventions Team. She also coordinates NIOSH research related to the healthcare and social assistance industry sector. She came to NIOSH as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in 2014 conducting workplace health hazard evaluations and performing occupational health surveillance. Prior to joining NIOSH, she was a Nurse Epidemiologist with county health department, a nurse caring for breast cancer patients, and a policy analyst for Ohio Medicaid.

Jon Szalajda, Deputy Director for the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory

Over the past thirty years, the nature of emergency response has changed. Because of changes in the approach to firefighting due to modern construction, preparing for the potential of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear terrorism events, and the need for respiratory protection during manmade or natural disasters, respiratory protection technology is evolving as well. This presentation will provide an overview of evolutions in standard requirements that address the changes in respiratory protection.

Stephanie Griffin, PhD, CIH; Dylan Staack, MPH; Jeff Burgess, MD, MS, MPH, University of Arizona

Firefighter overhaul is a phase of firefighting following knockdown of the flames when firefighters search for and extinguish hidden sources of combustion. The current recommendation for respiratory protection during overhaul is to use a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), but an air-purifying respirator (APR) with suitable filters could potentially provide another option for first responders if the APR was found to provide adequate protection. Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) canisters are designed to protect against many of the chemicals found in smoke. This portion of the webinar will discuss a recent study that was designed to measure the protective capability of an APR with CBRN canister used during overhaul compared with the protection offered by an SCBA.

Jonathan (Jon) Szalajda became the Deputy Director for the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) division of NIOSH in September, 2015. Since joining NPPTL in 2001, Jon has held various leadership roles in the organization. Some of his duties included being responsible for developing and promulgating new approval Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) related standards and regulations, including NIOSH’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) respirator standards. Prior to coming to NIOSH, Jon was a proposal manager for Bombardier Transportation and was the systems manager for the M40 Mask program with the Department of the Army. He holds a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Penn State and MS degrees in engineering from the George Washington University and the University of Pittsburgh. He has worked in the fields of respiratory protection and PPE for over 30 years. Jon is currently a member of NFPA Respiratory Protection Technical Committees, the Vice-Chairman of the ASTM-ANSI F23.65 committee on Respiratory Protection, and a past president of the AIHA Respiratory Protection Committee.

Dr. Griffin graduated from the University of Arizona in August 2014 with a Ph.D. in Environmental Health Sciences and a multidisciplinary minor in health economics. She earned her Masters of Science in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Washington in 2007 where she studied occupational noise exposure. Dr. Griffin has twenty years of environmental health and industrial hygiene experience having served as an Environmental Health Specialist with the U.S. EPA from 1999-2002 and as an Environmental Health Officer with the US Public Health Service, assigned to the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Coast Guard, from 2002-2011. She currently serves on the MEZCOPH as Assistant Professor in the Department of Community, Environment and Policy where her research efforts are focused on occupational health and safety in firefighting and mining.

Dylan Staack was a Project Manager at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the time of this study. His work with Dr. Jeff Burgess and Dr. Stephanie Griffin has focused on characterizing and assessing firefighter carcinogen exposures during overhaul, diesel exhaust exposure in firehouses, and heat stress exposures in mining. Since finishing at the University of Arizona, Dylan has taken over as the National Training and Support Manager at REPSS, a firm that helps companies equip themselves with the necessary tools to monitor environmental and occupational exposures.

Dr. Jeff Burgess is the Associate Dean for Research and Professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. His research focus includes reduction of exposures and injuries in firefighters and miners and environmental health disparities among Native Americans.