Nitrile Exam Glove Testing 2021
CategoriesInfection Prevention

Supply Update for N95 Masks and Nitrile Exam Gloves

N95 Masks and Nitrile Exam Gloves are vital materials for ensuring the safety of healthcare personnel, first responders, and the general public. We are seeing an increase in the use of these essential supplies here in the United States and abroad. What are the trends and availability for Nitrile Exam Gloves and NIOSH Certified N95 Masks in the future? Will there be adequate supply in the future? Or will we continue to see shortage, hoarding of supplies, and price spikes?

What are the trends here in the US?

The trend towards increased use of Nitrile Exam Gloves and N95 Masks is happening here in the US. This is likely due to the increasing awareness of the dangers of exposure to infectious diseases. And with the rise of incidents like the SarsCov2, the ever evolving new variants, and other pathogens it’s no wonder that in addition to our healthcare workers the general public are looking for ways to protect themselves.

But will this trend continue?

Experts believe that the awareness that Covid-19 has created about respiratory protection and surface disinfection has created a newSafety and Protection | SPH Medical trend towards personal protection. Prior to the pandemic, the NIOSH certified N95 Mask was always available and never in short supply. The global demand is currently being addressed and despite the supply chain traffic of container ships on our coastline, we are able to get these essential supplies to hospitals and those who need them. The prices have come back down to reasonable levels. When considering which N95 Mask to purchase it is always important that every individual is fit tested to ensure that they have a mask that fits properly without leakage. Hospitals have been doing fit testing for all their employees, thousands of them, and it is very time consuming. If there is a disruption in the supply chain and the hospital can’t access the specific types of masks that have been fitted to their employees they typically look for alternate sources to find these essential supplies. The NIOSH certified N95 mask has become one of the most important pieces of protective equipment for healthcare workers filtering out at least 95% of all particles, including those as small as 0.03 microns in size.

Nitrile Exam Gloves Protect Doctors and NursesNitrile Exam Gloves are the standard of care in hospitals and have been for decades. There are many manufacturers of FDA approved Nitrile Exam Grade gloves for hospitals but most of them are in South East Asia. Countries like Malaysia have access to the raw materials required to make Nitrile gloves and also have existing factories that produce tens of millions of gloves per month. Due to the high labor cost here in the us, high cost of setting up production facilities, and need to import the raw materials, we can expect to see global production of Nitrile Exam gloves remain offshore for some time.

N95 Masks and Nitrile Exam Gloves Testing

There are a number of different levels of tests that are performed on Exam Gloves to determine their resistance to breakage, leaks, puncture, and chemical resistance. Gloves often chosen for their strength, durability, and tactile sensitivity. Nitrile Exam Grade gloves also offer good protection against a variety of chemicals, including Chemotherapy Drugs and Fentanyl Citrate, when tested appropriately. The box for any product tested against Chemo Drugs should list the drugs that have been tested and the resistance time.

It’s important to keep in mind that not all Nitrile Exam Gloves and N95 Mask are created equal. Make sure to do your research before purchasing these items to find the ones that are right for you.

Makrite N95 Masks are a great choice to protect you from hazardous particles. With an efficiency of 95% or more against non-oil based particles, the Makrite catalog of NIOSH Certified masks provides a wide variety of shapes and styles to fit any facial morphology.

These are essential items for frontline caregivers and first responders everywhere. SPH Medical is a trusted source and a global distributor for Makrite Industries and a direct importer with a documented chain of custody for all masks direct from the factory.

The future of N95 mask technology is evolving with direct customer feedback channeled to the Research and Development team at Makrite. New mask styles for comfort, fit, and performance are in development and final approval stages. We can expect to see several new mask styles released this year added to an already impressive catalog of disposable respirators that serve the entire globe.

Nitrile Exam Gloves and N95 Masks are two essential supplies that are now more essential than ever as the market for these products has expended to literally everyone in the world.

The Future of N95 MasksSPH Medical Delivers Surgical N95 Respirators

  • The new designs will offer a variety of fit options
  • They are also more comfortable to wear for long periods of time
  • There are more surgical N95 mask options that offer documented fluid resistance

The future of N95 Mask technology and performance is being redefined by Makrite and SPH Medical.

SPH Medical has over 10 years of experience in supplying healthcare safety products, and is are committed to meeting the needs of our customers. As a strategic sourcing supplier for health systems across all 50 states, hospitals contact SPH Medical when they need essential supplies urgently or on a consistent monthly basis.

SPH Medical provides reliable and secure access to the latest products and technology available to protect our caregivers.

CategoriesInfection Prevention

N95 Masks and PPE for Healthcare

Getting the Best N95 Masks and 3-Ply Face Masks for your Medical Facility

With the COVID-19 pandemic still affecting vast parts of the country and the world, there are continued questions about using different types of N95 masks to help stop the spread of the virus. Frontline healthcare workers have been under increasing stress to ensure they have all the personal protective equipment they need to ensure their safety during patient care. While most healthcare workers are used to using surgical masks in specific medical environments, traditional surgical masks do not offer as much protection against this deadly pathogen’s spread.

High-Quality Protective N95 Masks for Medical Use

Most medical offices use a wholesale PPE supplier to get all their protective gear for their staff to ensure they are well prepared to ward off this airborne pathogen. When looking at what the best options are, there are several things to consider.

Based on years of scientific data and healthcare studies, the use of NIOSH certified N95 Mask and 3 Ply Mask face coverings are proven and recognized as significant deterrents to the spread of airborne pathogens. They offer high-quality protection against all airborne diseases, not just COVID-19. These masks have been used for decades, offering medical professionals the highest protection levels for all types of deadly aerosolized pathogens.

For healthcare professionals, frontline workers, and people with high profile exposure to the public, these masks are considered vital and integral for personal protection while at work. NIOSH Certified N95 Mask or medical grade 3 Ply Mask usage has been recognized as a powerful deterrent against such contagions as ebola, avian flu viruses, SARS, plague, and many more pathogens.

Isolation Gowns

For frontline healthcare workers and all workers in the health field, having a full line of PPE can be essential in ensuring they are protected from the particles of COVID-19 infected patients. Science has now proven that COVID-19 has an incubation period where patients can be infected and not know it. Additionally, a significant number of people get infected and never show any symptoms while the virus runs its course. Because of the virus’s asymptomatic aspect, taking extra special precautions can be vital even for people who work even in standard healthcare offices and dental offices.

In the past, nursing staff and doctors treated patients in isolation as highly infectious and therefore donned PPE every time the entered a patients room that was in isolation. Signs outside the door to the patients’ room would indicate whether there were contact precautions or airborne precautions. That is why healthcare professionals are accustomed to wearing isolation gowns. Today the use of isolation gowns has expanded to just about every healthcare worker in a medical facility. They use a disposable or launderable isolation gown to cover their personal clothing to offer better protection against transferring the virus or other pathogens to other patients or other areas within the medical facility. Disposable isolation gowns are a great inexpensive alternative that has long been used in intensive care and in the surgical field. These disposable gowns are easy to use, comfortable, and a vital first-line defense for all types of healthcare workers. The SPM Medical Level I and II Isolation gowns are a great example of an affordable high quality Iso gown that is cost effective and highly protective.

The Electrostatic Sprayer

For professional medical offices, clinics, dental offices, physical therapy offices, nursing homes, and senior assisted living facilities, the use of an electrostatic sprayer has become a powerful frontline defense against COVID-19 spread. These devices can neutralize COVID-19 on all types of surfaces and are the perfect solution for disinfecting topical surfaces without spending hours trying to reach all the surfaces in a room.

The electrostatic sprayer comes in various sizes. They are all mobile and even easily transportable, allowing health care offices and facilities to ensure all of their surfaces and entrances are disinfected rapidly and effectively during and at the end of each day. Disinfecting hospitals and medical facilities using an electrostatic sprayer offers a higher level of disinfection than standard manual methods that would typically involve buckets, rags, and spray bottles. The fine 40-50 micron mist of the Electrostatic sprayer ensures even coverage and the electrostatic technology ensures that the disinfectant spray wraps around the edges and back side of the target surfaces. A total room disinfection can be completed quickly and efficiently at any time to ensure COVID-19 on surfaces are killed.

Selecting a Disinfectant

Choosing an effective disinfectant is a key part of this solution. SPH Medical’s Noroxycdiff has a 2 minute wet dwell time kill of viruses, and spore forming bacteria like Clostridium difficile. Noroxycdiff has an EPA approval and validation to kill 99.9999% of C. diff spores which is the most difficult pathogen to kill in the hospital environment, much more difficult than COVID-19.

Because the demand is high for all PPE supplies, many medical facilities find it challenging shopping around for a consistent wholesale PPE supplier for all their protective gear. Many medical facilities increasingly choose to make bulk buys of the N95 mask and 3 Ply mask face coverings, isolation gown supplies to ensure they have enough.

If you are looking for a consistent source of NIOSH Certified N95 face masks, 3 ply face masks, isolation gown supplies, or an electrostatic sprayer device for your medical or dental facility, SPH Medical is an authorized distributor for Makrite NIOSH certified N95 masks and a wide variety of PPE products. They are a commercial supplier of 3-ply surgical masks, air powered lateral transfer matt, single patient use items, and PPE supplies. They ship directly anywhere in the country and have a full line of COVID-19 disinfection and protective gear solutions for large and small hospitals, surgical centers, medical and dental facilities.

CategoriesInfection Prevention

SPH Medical N95 Masks

Patients Flooding Healthcare Facilities

The healthcare industry has long been using the N95 Masks as an effective measure to protect frontline workers and first responders from illness. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, there are more patients flooding healthcare facilities. In addition, businesses in other industries like manufacturing are ordering large quantities of masks to protect their staff members.

Overall, the demand for the NIOSH 95 mask has drastically increased. Unfortunately, mask manufacturers are unable to keep up with the instantaneous skyrocketing demand. This has resulted in an overall shortage of N95 Masks. Many professionals are finding that they have to stretch the use of their mask well beyond its point of disposal until new shipments arrive.

Are All N95 Masks The Same?

The CDC recommends the N95 to protect people in the healthcare industry from airborne particles infected with the coronavirus. This type of personal protective equipment comes in many different styles, sizes, and ratings.

Our most popular selling N95 respirator, the Makrite Model 9500-N95, is a go-to essential for all healthcare workers. This individual respirator holds a NIOSH certification, which is a must-have certification according to OSHA for healthcare workers.

What Is A NIOSH Certification?

Any Makrite N95 Mask that holds a NIOSH certification has been successfully evaluated by the National Institute For Occupational Safety And Health (NIOSH) to be effective at protecting users against harmful airborne particles. All NIOSH certified masks meet the minimum requirements set forth in Title 42, Section 84 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

The Makrite 910-N95FMX is the newest in surgical respirator technology. It’s both a NIOSH N95 respirator and hasbeen given a surgical rating by the FDA. This mask is proven effective at providing fluid resistance, airborne particle resistance, and is comfortable for the wearer.

What Is A Surgical Rating?

Apart from receiving a NIOSH rating, a mask can receive a Surgical Rating. This rating is granted by the FDA after the mask is proven to effectively protect the user in a surgical environment. The main attributes of a surgical mask is they are both fluid and fire-resistant.

The fit test is designed to ensure that workers are able to appropriately wear their mask so that it effectively filters the air they breathe. OSHA recommends a fit test for each staff member upon employment and annually. The fit test helps to identify what specific style and size mask best fits the user.

What is a Fit Test?

During a fit test, the seal between the mask and the user’s face is evaluated. Each fit test takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. A qualitative fit test is performed with respirators like the mask where only the nose and mouth are covered. The tester will use one of the four substances accepted by OSHA to detect any leakage in the mask’s seal. These four substances include:

  • Saccharin (results in a sweet taste)
  • Bitrex (results in a bitter taste)
  • Irritant Smoke (causes coughing)
  • Isoamyl Acetate (smells like bananas)

If the testee experiences any one of the results above caused by the testing substance, then they fail the fit test with the specific mask they’re wearing. The testee will need to undergo the fit test again with a different style or size N95 mask. Once the testee passes the fit test, they’ll be able to successfully wear that mask in the field with success.

The Future Of N95 Masks

As you know, the Makrite N95 Mask has been in high demand. Many healthcare workers are currently experiencing major shortages in their mask supplies. This shortage has forced many to reuse their disposable masks for days on end. Currently, the nation’s leading mask suppliers have been enacting plans to boost mask production.

Right now, it seems that mask manufacturers just need more time to beef up their production efforts to meet the ongoing global demand. To ensure your frontline workers’ safety, you must work with distributors like SPH Medical who are a direct link to the mask manufacturers. This relationship will help to get your healthcare facility quality masks when they become first available.

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