At a recent SHARE Rep meeting, questions about health and safety came up that would likely be of interest to many SHARE members.
Dr. Kimi Kobayashi
We asked Dr. Kimi Kobayashi, UMass Memorial’s Chief Quality Officer to answer these questions:
Q. Clinic staff wonder why they get the yellow surgical masks. They are concerned that because they rip easily that they aren’t effective barriers for COVID protection. They would rather have the blue masks. Are the yellow surgical masks safe? Why can’t the clinics get blue masks?
A. We have received many questions about the yellow masks. Interestingly they are actually more sophisticated than the blue masks. That’s because they are the hypoallergenic masks which is the reason why some folks feel that they are “thinner.” In terms of filtration ability which really reflects the ability to protect caregivers, it performs the same as the blue masks. All of that being said, I think folks will start to see less of the yellow masks because our inventory of them is set to expire either this week or next.
Q. Another mask question in clinics: They say they are only allowed to order the Gerson N95, which doesn’t fit many people, is cheaply made and the elastic headband breaks easily. Are there better N95s available in ambulatory areas? Are the Gerson N95s effective?
A. The clinical staff should be wearing the N95 mask that they were fit tested to. If that is the Gerson then it should be ok. Do you know if these are folks that are looking for the mask they were fit-tested to? If so, they could go get repeat fit-testing to see if they might fit to a different mask. The clinic should be able to order the specific mask that a caregiver is fit tested to.
Q. Is there any thought to limiting visitors to ambulatory clinics? I hear frustration from clinic staff who find out they’ve been exposed to COVID from a patient’s family or companion during appointments.
A. We have consistently and continuously evaluated our visitor policies. We actually just had a call today about the ambulatory visitor policy. We review DPH guidance which currently requires us to allow visitors and we also benchmark with other peer institutions in the state and we are right in line with other organizations.