Katie O’Hearn is the research coordinator for the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at CHEO, and the Systematic Review Facilitator for the CHEO CRU. She is the Chair of the CHEO Research Coordinator Network and the Co-Chair of the Canadian Critical Care Research Coordinator Group. Katie coordinates several multi-centre research programs ranging from steroids in pediatric septic shock to vitamin D deficiency in critical illness to crowd sourcing systematic reviews. Her own research program focuses on assent in pediatric
critical care research.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Katie’s research has also focused on decontaminating N95 facemasks.
Related News
Research Projects
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Development of a Framework and Comprehensive National Database of Pediatric COVID-19 Research in Canada
11/10/2023
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Consent models in Canadian critical care randomized controlled trials: a scoping review
14/12/2021
This suggests that Canadian ethics boards and research communities are becoming more accepting of alternate consent models in ICU/PICU trials.
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Decontamination Interventions for the Reuse of Surgical Mask Personal Protective Equipment: A Systematic Review
10/08/2020
There is limited evidence on the safety or efficacy of surgical mask decontamination. Given the heterogeneous methods used in studies to date, we are unable to draw conclusions on the most efficacious and safe intervention for decontaminating surgical masks.
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Decontaminating N95 and SN95 masks with Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) does not impair mask efficacy and safety: A Systematic Review
17/07/2020
In conclusion, the function of N95 masks, based on aerosol penetration and airflow filtration, is maintained following a single cycle of UVGI. Decontamination using UV light in the laboratory setting suggests that this can be a successful method of removing infectious pathogens from FFRs. Future studies should use a cumulative UV-C dose of 40,000 J/m2 and focus on validating the effectiveness of UVGI decontamination in the real-world setting, and on determining the impact of UVGI on mask fit as well as the maximum number of UVGI cycles that can be safely applied to an N95 FFR.
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Decontaminating N95 and SN95 masks with ultraviolet germicidal irradiation does not impair mask efficacy and safety.
13/07/2020
To help inform FFR-reuse policies and procedures, our team has conducted three systematic reviews to synthesize existing published data regarding the effectiveness of UVGI, heat, microwave irradiation, and chemical disinfectants for N95 FFR decontamination.