Using the Number of N95® Filtering Facepiece Respirator Models as an Indicator of Supply Chain Stability in a US Health-Care System.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep
; 18: e10, 2024 Jan 30.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38287526
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
Personal protective equipment (PPE) supply chain disruptions force US health-care entities to adopt conservation strategies such as procurement from different respirator manufacturers. This research seeks to better understand how the number of respirator models on hand can serve as an indicator of N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR) supply chain stability or disruption.METHODS:
Researchers looked at differences in the mean number of N95 FFR models, averaged weekly, from 10 hospitals in a health-care system over 15 wk from June 1 to September 10, 2020. Participating hospitals entered near-daily PPE inventory data by manufacturer and model number.RESULTS:
A linear mixed effect model was run in SPSS v. 26 using a random intercept for hospitals, with week as a fixed predictor and mean number of respirator models (averaged weekly) on hand as the dependent variable. Each week showed a small but significant effect compared with the past week (P < 0.001), where the average weekly number of respirator models on hand decreased.CONCLUSIONS:
The limited data may indicate a resolution of supply chain disruptions and warrant further investigation. Consequently, the number of respirator models may be applicable as an indicator of supply chain stability and be more easily ascertained and tracked by health-care entities.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Respiratory Protective Devices
/
Occupational Exposure
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Disaster Med Public Health Prep
Journal subject:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Estados Unidos