Just FYI! You want P100, not N95. People in ERs use P100 with a surgical mask ontop. ALSO! 3M is the only trusted supplier (it is hard to make P100s). Why did n95 get all the hype??
P100's are significantly harder to breath in, and I'd question whether the typical user has a good enough fit to actually get the full filtering performance.
I can't speak for ER healthcare workers, but I know from experience that hospital surgical nurses wear N95 masks. I'm not sure why anyone in healthcare would need a P* mask, since they aren't generally exposed to oil.
If I really thought I needed a P100 mask, I'd get a rubber respirator with screw on filters -- they are easier to fit, and the dual respirators have more surface area for easier breathing.
The number in a rating tells you the minimum amount of airborne challenge particles the mask protects against: an N95 mask keeps out at least 95% of particles but isn’t oil resistant, and a P100 mask is oil proof while protecting the wearer from at least 99.8% of particles. (AKA just a better mask).
It's a real bummer to hear such comment - why spread this?
P100 Approved, NIOSH's highest rated filtration efficiency in a filtering facepiece respirator. It is just a higher rating. "P100's are significantly harder to breath in" <- not at all! You should try one - they breath great. They are meant for workers to wear all day. They even have a nice leather like seal making it easier to have proper seal. Also! They are perfect for a quick trip to the grocery store or standing on a bus.
ALSO! The screw on versions are great but they are MUCH heavier and impossible to put in a pocket so they are not practical at all. Nothing about your comment was accurate :(
It's a real bummer to hear such comment - why spread this?
Why spread what? You're the one that claimed that medical workers all use oil resistant P100 masks, while what they overwhelmingly use is N95's (the ones that are medical grade are ASTM certified to be water/fluid resistant, not oil resistant).
In the hospital I worked at, if staff needed better filtration than that N95 could provide, they used full face, powered respirators. (positive pressure means a perfect seal is less critical, and it provides eye protection).
Here's 3M's healthcare line of healthcare masks, they are all N95:
I don't know what a P100 is but I don't find a N99 more difficult to breathe than a N95 (but I do feel that I have to exert more force/pressure when breathing).
I use it to cycle and it's ignorable when cycling casually but discomfortable when going for performance. Anedoctally I don't find the extra effort to breathe to be a problem but just the saturated & hot air. So if I were to exhale each time with the mask of and inhale if it on it wouldn't be a problem. PS. I use masks w/ valves and those without one worsen this issue.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/v000057510/