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As part of UVA Health’s efforts to ensure the safety of all team members, Employee Health (EH) is preparing to reinstate the annual N-95 respirator fit testing program which requires certain Tier 1 team members to be tested during their birth month. A new requirement is that team members must complete and submit a medical evaluation form to EH before being cleared for respiratory fit testing.

In restarting the program, EH is also revamping the “Train the Tester” program to ensure compliance with HIPAA rules and other regulatory standards. Individuals who serve as respiratory fit testers for outlying clinics and other work groups must complete a new computer-based learning module and attend a one-hour in-person class at EH facilities in Charlottesville. Testers will be required to participate in competency training every year.

Who Must Complete Respiratory Fit Testing?

As specified in UVA Health’s Occupational Health Screening and Maintenance Policy (OCH-002), all team members who:

• provide patient care within University Hospital or within any ambulatory clinic with a negative pressure room are required to undergo annual respiratory fit testing. 
• perform COVID testing or provide COVID-related patient care in ambulatory settings.

In addition, Hospital Epidemiology may determine that providers at other Medical Center and UPG clinics who provide care to patients with disease transmissible via arespiratory route must complete annual respiratory fit testing. Providers at off-Grounds Medical Center outpatient clinics and UPG clinics can also request respiratory fit-testing.

Team members who require respiratory fit testing will receive a notification from EH at the start of their birth month and must complete testing by month’s end. Individuals who have not been cleared for respiratory fit testing and/or actually fit-tested may not enter the room of a patient on airborne precautions or participate in aerosol generating procedures.

Information about the respiratory fit testing program can be found here.

What’s New for Testers?

Off-site clinics can designate a person to perform respiratory fit testing for their teams, and that individual will need to complete the initial and annual competency training. Designed to ensure  compliance with HIPAA rules and other regulatory standards, the training includes a computer-based learning module and one-hour in-person class at EH facilities in Charlottesville. 

Tester training will cover how to handle team member personal medical information, perform proper documentation in the Occupational Health electronic medical record, and adhere to stricter quality assurance measures.

Effective December 2022, anyone interested in being a trained respirator-fit tester must complete the current training to be considered eligible for testing. Testers who were previously approved to provide testing must participate in the new training program and maintain an annual competency. Only testers who have completed the new training will be able to submit respiratory fit testing results to EH.

For more details, email Jimmy Fry, EH RFT Coordinator, at PFG4WU@uvahealth.org.