In-hospital verification of non-CE-marked respiratory protective devices to ensure safety of healthcare staff during the COVID-19 outbreak

BACKGROUND: Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a shortage of respirators is occurring worldwide; more specifically, Conformité Européene (CE)-certified Filtering Face-Piece (FFP2) respirators. This has resulted in an increased supply to hospitals of alternative respirators of uncertain quality. Nevertheless, the quality of the respirators used by our healthcare workers must be ensured. AIM: To develop a protocol to ensure the quality of respiratory protective devices for healthcare workers nursing and treating patients with possible or confirmed COVID-19 in the Catharina Hospital. METHODS: A protocol and criteria based on applicable standards were developed to ensure the quality of respirators. The protocol has been implemented at the Catharina Hospital and includes verification of the documents accompanying the respirator, visual inspection of the respirator, and a test for total inward leak of particles into respirators. FINDINGS: Sixty-seven percent of the respirator brands and types received in the Catharina Hospital did not meet quality criteria. CONCLUSION: With a simple verification protocol the quality of the respirators can be checked and guaranteed while there is a shortage of the CE-approved respirators that are normally used. With this in-hospital protocol, healthcare workers can be equipped with safe-to-use respirators.