GPs should now have access to fit-testing

2 minute read

Political TheHill

By

Holly Payne

Australian guidelines now acknowledge the role of airborne spread for covid.

The Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG) has responded to recommendations provided by the National Covid-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce (NCCET) and updated its advice on PPE for frontline health workers.

All healthcare workers providing direct patient care or working within the “patient/client/resident zone” for individuals with suspected or confirmed covid should now have access to fit-tested P2/N95 respirators.

As TMR understands, this means all GPs should now have access to fit-testing.

When working in a setting with high risk, ICEG now categorically recommends respirators over surgical masks, even if the respirator has not been fit-tested.

In terms of defining a high-risk setting in primary care, an example provided by NCCET suggests that the local area being a covid hotspot qualified.

“Prolonged GP consultation in a poorly ventilated room with a distraught pregnant mother, an infant and two children under 4, one of whom has visible rhinorrhoea in an area of high community prevalence/transmission [is a high risk setting],” NCCET said on their website.

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The reason behind these changes, according to ICEG, is the “emerging evidence” for “the potential for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via aerosols in specific circumstances”.

This recognition, along with the PPE guideline changes, comes after a protracted campaign from medical professionals across the board, some of whom took to social media to celebrate.

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