airborne precautions

^[1]^[2]

Introduction

Avoids spread of infection via airborne droplets < 5 um or by contaminated dust particles.

Examples:

private rooms
masks with entry to the room (1 um masks)
limiting patient transport
negative pressure ventilation to the outside
> 6 air exchanges/hour
surgical face masks used consistently useful for preventing transmission in community settings^[2]
among health care workers, fitted N95 respirators are more effective than surgical face masks^[1]^[2]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Medical Knowledge Self Assessment Program (MKSAP) 11, 17, 18. American College of Physicians, Philadelphia 1998, 2018.
Medical Knowledge Self Assessment Program (MKSAP) 19 Board Basics. An Enhancement to MKSAP19. American College of Physicians, Philadelphia 2022
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 MacIntyre CR and Chughtai AA Facemasks for the prevention of infection in healthcare and community settings. BMJ 2015;350:h694 <PubMed> PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25858901 <Internet> http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h694