[Survey on hygiene practices after the COVID-19 pandemic in EFR departments]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, airborne transmission of lung disease was a cause for major concern, and scientific societies published strict hygiene guidelines for pulmonary function tests (PFT) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). These guidelines led to a major decrease in patient access to PFT and CPET, and their relevance in the 2023 post-pandemic context may be called into question. Under the hypothesis that PFT/CPET expert centers have modified their practices in accordance with the applicable guidelines, a survey was conducted from the 8th through the 23rd of February 2023 in 28 French PFT/CPET hospital departments. An overwhelming majority of the centers (96%) did not limit indications for PFT/CPET, and requested neither a vaccination or recovery certificate (93%) nor a negative diagnostic test (89%). While the use by patients and caregivers of surgical masks and antimicrobial filters was unanimously adopted, only 36% of centers declared that FFP2/N95-filtering face masks were worn. Disinfection of caregivers' hands was carried out by 96%, and a majority of centers reported break time (75%) and disinfection of equipment surfaces (89%) between the testing of two patients. In conclusion: aside from a few modifications, the practices reported by PFT/CPET French expert centers in 2023 were close to those in force prior to the COVID-19 epidemic.