Abstract:Objective To understand medical staff's feeling of fitness and comfort when wearing different brands of medical protective masks. Methods Fever clinic staff including doctors, nurses, medical technicians and hospital service workers were selected. Quantitative fit test of four brands of folding medical protective masks were conducted. Staff's subjective feeling on mask fitness during different body movements was investigated. Discomfort fee-lings of medical staff at the beginning and 4 hours after wearing masks were tested, including pressure sense of nose bridge, skin itching, facial skin damage, mouth abrasion, tightening of ears and facial compression of masks. Mask deformation after 4 hours usage was also investigated. Results A total of 98 staff in fever clinic were investigated on the wearing fitness and comfort of medical protective masks. Compared with quantitative fit test results, the conformity rates of actual fit of subjective feeling was 77.42%, and non-actual fit was 56.86%. In different tested movements except loud speaking, conformity rates of the actual fit of subjective feeling were higher than 90%, however, conformity rates of actual non-fit movement were low, all below 30%. The main problems reflected by the subjective feeling of wearing masks were inappropriate size, uncomfortable headband tension, and pressure on nose bridge. Overall proportion of person with discomfort feeling was about 40%. After wearing masks for 4 hours, proportion of persons with discomfort feeling from headband tension and pressure on nose bridge increased. Conclusion When choosing medical protective masks, it is necessary to consider not only the fit test data, but also subjective feelings like comfort level, so as to improve the compliance and correctness in wearing medical protective masks as well as the satisfaction level of medical personnel.