Schools are advised to have disposable face masks on hand. These avoid unnecessary transfer of body fluids between the non-breathing patient and the rescuer.

The Australian Resuscitation Council does not recommend the use of plastic face shields designed to place over the patient's mouth/nose area.

Training for Expired Air Resuscitation (EAR) and Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

All persons responsible for CPR training should be familiar with the need for personal hygiene, and for the cleaning, disinfection and maintenance of training manikins and accessories.

To limit the risk of cross-infection, it is essential to use individual face or mouth-nose pieces and disposable lung bags or airway tubes. Manikins which do not comply with these requirements should not be used. If the mouth-to-mask technique is being taught and practised, there should be a mask for each trainee.

Procedures include:

• mouth-to-mouth and mouth-to-mask techniques of ventilation should be practised on the manikin and not on other members of the class
• resuscitation face masks, individual face or mouth-nose pieces should be scrubbed with a nailbrush using a detergent solution or soap and water. They should be rinsed in clean water and dried before disinfection procedures are carried out
• at the end of a training class, manikins should be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. Where disposable airway tubes and/or lung bags are used they should be discarded into a sealed container
• before any disinfection process, all items must be thoroughly cleaned in a suitable detergent, rinsed and dried thoroughly

The recommended disinfectant solution is 70% alcoholic chlorhexidine for two minute immersion of face or mouth-nose pieces. The disinfectant solution should be stored with the manikins. 70% alcoholic chlorhexidine consists of 0.5% w/v chlorhexidine in either ethanol 70% or industrial (methylated) spirit 70% w/v. Isopropyl alcohol does not match ethanol and industrial (methylated) spirit until its strength reaches 95% and, at 70%, is not interchangeable with 70% ethanol or 70% industrial (methylated) spirit. Also check manufacturer's instructions. After immersion, articles should be rinsed in clean water and dried thoroughly

• all used disinfectant solutions should be discarded at the end of each class
• household bleach (hypochlorite) is not recommended for manikin disinfection because of the residual odour, taste and the destructive effect on interchangeable parts. Also Glutaraldehyde should not be used to disinfect manikins.
• it is recommended that where appropriate, students be encouraged to purchase their own mouthpieces

The same procedure for disinfecting EAR manikin mouthpieces should be adopted for cleaning mouthpieces on musical instruments. However, some mouthpieces are made from material which would be sensitive to the corrosive properties of alcohol-based solutions. In these situations it is recommended that the mouthpieces be wiped with chlorhexidine after initial cleaning in hot soapy water. Where possible, chlorhexidine should be poured through the mouthpiece, followed by cleaning with a brush.