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Safety & Risk of Common Respiratory Therapy
Using a human patient simulator and laser visualization technique, a jet plume of air leaked through the mask exhaust holes to a radial distance of 0.25 m from the mask during application of NPPV at low pressure of 10 cmH2O. When NPPV was increased to a high pressure of 18 cmH2O, the vertical plume extended to 0.45 m above the patient with some horizontal spreading along the ward ceiling. Using the same laser visualization method, we have shown that during the delivery of oxygen via a simple face mask to the HPS, the exhaled air particles could reach a distance of approximately 0.40 m. The study shows that there will be substantial exposure to exhaled air which occurs within 0.5 m radius of patients receiving common respiratory therapy for respiratory failure. Healthcare workers should take stringent precautions during provision of respiratory therapy to patients with severe pneumonia. |