Hello. I'm Lisa Hepp, and I'm an epidemiologist at the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I've been working with the Institute and other countries to monitor secondhand smoke exposure levels in their countries. And with today's video, I'm going to demonstrate how you can easily do the same. 

In this video we'll be talking about using a passive air nicotine monitor to measure secondhand smoke exposure levels. I'll also be showing you how to place the monitors and provide you with some general tips and guidelines to follow to ensure collecting an accurate sample. For more information on air monitoring, please refer to our website for additional resources. 

To conduct a passive air monitoring study, it is helpful to organize all study materials such as forms and labels in a binder. Beyond the binder, you will, of course, need passive air monitors and a CD with an Access database to help with data entry. 

At this point you may be asking yourself, what exactly is an air nicotine monitor? 

These monitors are made here at the Johns Hopkins Exposure Assessment Lab, but could be made at any qualified lab. They are small plastic devices that filter the air and collect any nicotine present on a filter pad. The monitors are placed in baggies within plastic cups. The bag and the cup serve as barriers to the ambient air, protecting the air monitors from any potential exposure from nicotine during transportation and storage. 

Protecting the air monitors is important as any early exposure could provide inaccurate estimates of the levels of secondhand smoke. Beyond the bags and the cups, it's important to remember to store your air monitors in a cool, dry, smoke-free environment for future use. Before we go any further, let's discuss the different parts of the monitor. 

Once you remove the cap, you can better see the actual monitor. This is the filter cassette, which is the most solid part of the monitor. It is made with polystyrene or plastic. It has a clip on the side that will be very useful to correctly place the monitor in the field. If you hold the monitor by the clip, you will notice the two sides are very different. 

This is the nuclear pore windscreen. It protects the filter and lets the air pass through it with an equal flow rate to allow the airborne nicotine to reach the filter. It's very important when placing the monitor to ensure that the air can adequately pass through both sides of the monitor and not to inadvertently block one side. 

The windscreen is extremely fragile and it can easily be ripped or torn. For example, by sticking your thumb through it. Remember to be cautious when taking the cap off as this too can rip the windscreen. 

If you remove the nuclear pore windscreen, you can better see the filter pad, which is cushioned by a thin sheet of paper. The filter is treated with sodium bisulfate, which allows it to collect and hold onto the nicotine that is filtered from the environment. In the lab, this filter will be carefully separated from the rest of the monitor where the level of nicotine will be analyzed using gas chromatography. 

There's no reason that you would ever disassemble the monitor. Remember to always keep the caps on until you place the monitors in the field. Depending on your study design, you may have a vast number of locations of where you'll be placing in the monitors. 

You'll need some way of tracking the monitors so that you know which building or home they were in, and so that when the lab analyzes them for nicotine content, you know what the exposure to secondhand smoke was in each location. The Exposure Assessment Lab at Johns Hopkins generates a unique number for each monitor they create. 

As you can see, they put that number right on the monitor. This tracking number identifies the monitor and must be used when completing field worksheets that describe the location and placement of every monitor. It is also used to identify the collected samples in the lab. 

Once the lab processes the air nicotine monitors, they recycle the filter cassettes. And often additional labels attached in the field leave a sticky residue that is difficult to remove making it challenging to reuse in the future. 

Hi. I'm Betsy Donaldson from Johns Hopkins. 

Hi. Nice to meet you. 

Nice to meet you, too. 

When conducting a secondhand smoke air nicotine monitoring study, you will generally need to get permission from the building owner to hang the monitors. Once you have permission, to try to hang the monitors at periods of time with low occupancy. This way, you'll avoid people readily noticing the monitors and asking what they are. If this does happen, simply say you're hanging the monitors for an air study. Don't tell them you're studying secondhand smoke as this may alter their behavior, especially if they are smokers, and bias your results. 

What are you doing? 

An air quality study. Just measuring the air in this place. 

There are some key things to remember when looking for a good place to hang the monitor. The monitor should be at least one to two meters off the floor. Often the best places are near the ceiling so as to avoid people tampering with them because they're out of reach. 

Keep the monitors at least one meter away from open windows and ventilation systems, including fans. While this may not be possible given some warmer climates, it should be well documented on the field worksheet the proximity to windows or fans. It is often advisable to document the presence of any windows, fans, or ventilation systems so that during analysis the lab can better understand the environment where the sample was collected. Knowing this information can help determine the air exchange or flow rate of that particular room. 

Don't hang the monitors in dead spots or where the air doesn't circulate, such as under a shelf or corner or on the curtains. Remember, air must freely pass through both sides of the monitor to collect any nicotine in the environment. Try to ensure the monitor is not too visible or that anyone can easily get to it. You don't want anyone tampering with the monitor when you aren't around. 

Some good places to hang the monitors include beams, nails, or plants. The monitors typically remain in place for 5 to 14 days. Once you hang your monitor, be sure to complete any field worksheets or observations. 

We recommend that you visit the location you place the monitor at least once a week to ensure that it is still in the correct place and has not been tampered with. If the monitor is not where you placed it, look around to see if you can find the monitor. If you find it, and it's not harmed, you can put it back in its original location. Just be sure to document that it was not in its original location for some period of time. If the monitor is missing, you should document this on the field worksheet. 

On the day you are ready to retrieve the monitors, be sure to bring the cap, the bag, and the cup the monitor was in. Cap the monitor and place it in the bag and then in the cup. 

Remember when storing the air monitors for shipment to the lab, it's important to keep them in a dry smoke-free environment at room temperature. We've now completed our brief training on passive air nicotine monitors. I hope you now have a better understanding of secondhand smoke monitoring. For additional information on air monitoring, please visit our website for other resources. 

Thanks for watching our video. And remember, there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure.