TY - JOUR T1 - Is there a risk to home mechanical ventilation patients who are issued with previously used room air ventilators? JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.RFMVC-2020.04 VL - 6 IS - suppl 4 SP - 04 AU - Alison Armstrong AU - Ben Messer Y1 - 2020/02/13 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/6/suppl_4/04.abstract N2 - Ventilators used in the community predominantly have a single limb circuit design; airflow travels in one direction, from device to patient. Exhaled air from the patient, which may contain airborne pathogens, is exhausted into the environment via an expiratory port within the ventilator mask or circuit. These devices are ‘room air ventilators’, drawing air from the environment to deliver to the patient. If the device has been used in an area that contains airborne pathogens, it poses the question as to whether this may put a subsequent user at risk of a respiratory tract infection. There is no standardised technique for the decontamination of these ventilators that are re-used between patients in the community setting. To explore national practice, we recently surveyed 134 health care professionals from a home mechanical ventilation national network, and received responses from 38 (28%). Of those respondents, the majority (77%) expressed some concern over the potential for contamination of ventilators and also for the possible impact such colonisation could have on the health of the patient (93%). Approximately 50% of the respondents routinely use bacterial filters in the ventilator circuits, but currently there is no evidence to support this practice in room air ventilators, where the resistance caused by the bacterial filter may have an impact on the sensitivity of the device.This demonstrates a knowledge gap within this area and genuine concern from those responsible for the clinical delivery of care. The current evidence is either out-of-date or out-of-context, and demonstrates this is an area that requires further evidence to support clinical practice guidelines.FootnotesCite this article as: ERJ Open Research 2020; 6: Suppl. 4, 04.This is an ERS Respiratory Failure and Mechanical Ventilation Conference abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only). ER -