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Using the Number of N95® Filtering Facepiece Respirator Models as an Indicator of Supply Chain Stability in a US Health-Care System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2024

Alexa Furek ,
Mihili Edirisooriya ,
Megan Casey  and
Emily J. Haas Open the ORCID record for Emily J. Haas [Opens in a new window]
Alexa Furek
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Mihili Edirisooriya
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Megan Casey
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, WV, USA
Emily J. Haas*
Affiliation:
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Emily J. Haas; Email: wcq3@cdc.gov.
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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.

Keywords

N95 respiratorrespiratory protective deviceemergency preparednessoccupational healthsupply chain

Information

Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 18 , 2024 , e10
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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