In this video we're going to talk about how to properly and safely use and reuse
your surgical mask. With the increased usage and need for this in the community
we want to give you some simple tips to make sure you're keeping yourself and
others safe and we're going to take care of that right after this. Welcome back my
name is Tammy and this is NurseMinder and on this channel we do everything
nursing so if you're new here consider subscribing below so that you get the
next video when it's released. Now before we get started with the use and reuse of
the surgical masks there are some key concepts I just want to cover in this
video. One is we don't want to touch the outside of our mask because it's
considered dirty or contaminated. The second thing is you don't want this
hanging on your chin. This is going to increase the risk of transmission to
your skin which will then maybe increase the risk of you touching your face to
your eyes, ears, and nose and the third one is hanging it off your ears like an
earring will have the same ill-effects in that it will potentially transfer
organisms to your skin and increase your risk of transmission so those are things
we don't want to do with our masks. A few tips about the mask before we get to
putting it on. The first thing I want you to know is that not all masks have a
clearly identifiable outside so if you have a mask that is
two toned you want to put the colored side to the outside. If your mask is the same
color on the outside and the inside, then one of the ways you can help to identify
the outside is to put a little mark maybe your initials or a star or
something just up in one of the corners so that when you take it on and off you
can easily identify the outside. The second tip is you want to make sure it's
still safe to use and so you just do a quick inspection and make sure that the
loops are still attached and the mask looks like it is not soiled, dirty or
other or torn. Now before and after the use of your masks you always want to do
hand hygiene so you can use soap and water or the hand sanitizer making sure
that you scrub this through all of those spaces
on your hand and you let it air-dry, that's the important piece with the hand
sanitizer. In donning the mask fighting for the metal bridges that's going to go
over your nose we're going to grab those loops and simply put them over our ears
ensuring that the mask is pulled under your chin and that we press down on that
metal bar. N ow when you're done you're working you take it off to eat or have a
phone call we're going to show you how to go to do that process next. You will
need a receptacle so like a brown bag or a ziploc bag and I've put my initials on
here so if there's multiple sitting around people will know which receptacle
is mine. Now remember the outside of our mask is considered contaminated
and we don't want to touch it but we still need to start with hand hygiene
before we take off that mask and as I'm washing my hands here I'll just show
that the process will be fairly simple and straightforward we're going to grab
it by the cleanest area and bring it forward that will be step number one so
just grabbing it at the ear loops oh
it's stuck on my glasses there we go and bringing it forward now we will have to
touch the outside slightly in order to do step number two. Step number two is
we're going to fold this mask so I'm going to take this mask here on the
edges and fold it in half keeping the contaminated side in. Really important is
I've got fingers that are touching the inside where it's the cleanest fingers
that are touching the outside where it's the dirtiest and I'm just going to fold this
now in half keeping only my two fingers on the outside and now I'm going to put
it in my receptacle. I'll demonstrate using the brown paper bag but you can
also use a ziplock bag, it would be the same concept. So I've got my folded mask
here I'm going to open up my bag and slide my mask in folding the
edge over and when it comes time to reusing that we need to do our hand hygiene again
making sure to get all those crevices or you can use soap and water of course and
let that air dry once you're ready you're going to open up your mask (bag) grab it
out by the loop and then as your mask starts to come out you can grab it by
the edge there. Now my hands are clean I'm gonna touch the outside of my mask
there we're simply going to fold it open now and we can place this back on our
face all right so we've done our hand hygiene and open up my bag bring out my
mask grabbing those loops I'm going to open this up and now I can find where my
outside is, if you've marked it, your going to look for your mark being careful not
to touch the mask because it is contaminated. Inspect it one more time to
make sure it's not soiled or wet or contaminated so now we're going to go ahead
and put this back on being careful to bring the mask under the chin, looping it
on and you will have to touch the bridge of the nose to secure that seal and then
of course complete hand hygiene. Now at the end of the day when you're all done
work we're going to just take this mask, remove it and dispose of it and we'll
start with a fresh mask with a fresh shift. Thanks for watching
stay safe. Share your comments below maybe you have another strategy that
your facility is using definitely put it in the comments below so that others can
learn from you as well. Until next time stay safe and make it a great day ;)