title: The American Association of Occupational Health Nurses' Respiratory Protection Education Program and Resources Webkit for Occupational Health Professionals.
abstract: Organizations are required to adhere to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134) if they have workers that wear a respirator on the job. They must also have an employee "suitably trained" to administer their program. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and its National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory have worked to champion the occupational health nurse in this role by collaborating with the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses to develop free, online respiratory protection training and resources (RPP Webkit). This article describes the development, content, and success of this training. To date, 724 participants have completed the training, 32.6% of whom lead their organization's respiratory protection program, 15.3% who indicated they will lead a program in the near future, and 52% who did not lead a program, but indicated that the training was relevant to their work. The majority "strongly agreed" the training was applicable to their work and it enhanced their professional expertise.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Lisa.pompeii@uth.tmc.edu.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pompeii
authors.affiliation: American Association for Occupational Health Nurses.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Byrd
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: George L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Delclos
authors.affiliation: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Sadie H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Conway
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000592:standards*; D009785:Occupational Health Nursing / Q000193:education* / Q000592:standards*; D012134:Respiratory Protective Devices / Q000592:standards*; D012952:Societies; D014481:United States; D014489:United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration; D017132:Workplace
keywords: OSHA respiratory protection standard; occupational health nurse training; respirators; respiratory protection; respiratory protection training