Examining health care personal protective equipment use through a human factors engineering and product design lens

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 595-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Salehi ◽  
Priyadarshini R. Pennathur ◽  
Jaqueline Pereira Da Silva ◽  
Loreen A. Herwaldt
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Human Factors Engineering

scholarly journals Self-Contamination While Doffing Personal Protective Equipment

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s385-s386
Author(s):  
Jaqueline Pereira da Silva ◽  
Priyadarshini Pennathur ◽  
Hugh Salehi ◽  
Emily Chasco ◽  
Jure Baloh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Factors ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Human Factors Engineering ◽  
Academic Hospital ◽  
Training Video ◽  
Exposed Skin ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Trained Staff

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) effectiveness can be undermined by inappropriate doffing methods. Objective: We used human factors engineering methods to evaluate self-contamination during PPE doffing. Methods: In this study, 30 participants at a Midwestern academic hospital (A) donned and doffed 3 mask styles (n = 10), 2 gown styles (n = 10), and 2 glove styles (n = 10; the Doffy glove has a tab to facilitate doffing). Also, 30 additional participants at hospital A (residents or fellows, nurses, special isolation trained staff [SITS]) and 10 SITS at academic hospital B doffed a surgical mask, a breakaway neck gown, and exam gloves (PPE ensemble) twice: once while distracted with conversation and once when not distracted. We randomized the order in which participants used different PPE styles or they did the doffing scenario. We collected demographic data. We applied Glo Germ Mist (1.5 dilution in water) with a mucosal atomizer to participants’ PPE before they doffed. We video-recorded participants as they doffed, and we photographed their scrubs and exposed skin before and after each donning and doffing episode. We reviewed videos for doffing errors and photographs for fluorescent spots. We counted fluorescent spots and noted their locations. Results: Overall, 45 (64.3%) participants were women, 31 (44.3%) were nurses, 24 (34.3%) were physicians. Among the participants, 25 (35.7%) had >15 years of experience and 61 (87.1%) had some training in doffing. Participants frequently contaminated their skin or clothing while doffing (Table 1). For all scenarios, hands followed by the torso were contaminated most frequently. Analysis of the videos found that touching the gown front with bare hands was the most common doffing error. Fewer participants self-contaminated when using the Doffy glove without training than when using the standard exam glove. Although most participants in the glove trial indicated that they did not need to watch the Doffy glove training video again, most had difficulty doffing the Doffy glove with the beak method. Many participants stopped doffing to answer questions when they doffed the PPE ensemble during the interruption scenario. Conclusions: Self-contamination was very common with all PPE styles and during all scenarios. Distraction did not increase the risk of contamination. However, participants often stopped doffing to answer questions, which they rarely do in practice. Watching a video was inadequate training for the beak glove-doffing method. The Doffy glove, which decreased contamination compared with the standard glove in the untrained scenario, may have advantages over standard exam gloves and should be evaluated further.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None

COVID-19: The Importance of Adequate Personal Protective Equipment in Healthcare Medical Staff

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Weissenstein
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Emotional Resilience ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
And Control

We present an update on infection prevention and control for COVID-19 in healthcare settings. This update focuses on measures to be applied in settings with increasing community transmission, growing demand for concern about COVID-19 patients, and subsequent staffing issues in the event of shortages of personal protective equipment for healthcare facilities worldwide. The comfort and emotional resilience of health care workers are key components in maintaining essential health care services during the COVID-19 virus (coronavirus) outbreak.

scholarly journals COVID – 19 related knowledge and preventive practices early in the outbreak among health care workers in selected public health facilities of Illu aba Bor and Buno Bedelle zones, Southwest Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dereje Tsegaye ◽  
Muluneh Shuremu ◽  
Dereje Oljira ◽  
Sileshi Dubale ◽  
Getachew Befekadu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Infection Prevention ◽  
Health Facilities ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Southwest Ethiopia ◽  
Preventive Practices ◽  
Care Workers

Abstract Background Novel-coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease is currently a worldwide health risk and public health emergency concern. The virus is transmitted from an infected person to another person through close contact and droplets. Frontline health care workers are the most at risk of infection, and so a WHO interim guidance document was issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) which underscores the importance of proper sanitation and waste management practices for COVID- 19 in health-care settings. This study aimed at assessing knowledge and preventive practices towards Covid-19 among health care providers in selected health facilities of Illu Aba Bor and Buno Bedele zones, Southwest Ethiopia. Methods An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April to May 2020 among 330 health workers in selected health facilities of Illu Aba Bor and Buno-Bedelle Zones, Southwest Ethiopia. Data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire. The collected data were entered into Epidata version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 23 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of preventive practices towards Covid-19. Statistical significance was declared at a p-value of < 0.05. Result The majority of respondents (93.3%) demonstrated good knowledge of COVID-19, and the mean (SD) knowledge score was 9.04 ± 1.06. Nearly two-thirds (64.2%) of the study participants had good infection prevention practices. Being male (AOR = 3.65, 95% CI: (1.96, 6.80)), education level (AOR = 1.82, 95% CI (1.02, 3.22)), profession (AOR = 3.17, 95% CI (1.08, 9.33)), service year (5–10 years) (AOR = 2.00 (1.02, 3.92)) and more than 10 years (AOR = 3.14 (1.51, 6.52)), availability of personal protective equipment (AOR = 1.96 (1.06, 3.61)) and Knowledge level (AOR = 2.61 (1.48, 4.62)) were independent predictors of COVID-19 preventive practices. Conclusion The overall level of knowledge of HCWs was good. However, the practice was relatively low. Gender, educational status, profession, year of service, knowledge towards COVID-19, and availability of personal protective equipment were independent predictors of good infection prevention practices. Optimizing the infection prevention and control loop of the health facilities is recommended.

scholarly journals Adherence to personal protective equipment use among healthcare workers caring for confirmed COVID-19 and alleged non-COVID-19 patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike M. Neuwirth ◽  
Frauke Mattner ◽  
Robin Otchwemah
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Care Workers

AbstractAdherence observations of health care workers (HCW) revealed deficiencies in the use of recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) among HCW caring in COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 wards during the first period of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in a university hospital in Germany. The adherence to wearing surgical face or FFP2-masks and disinfecting hands prior to donning and after doffing the PPE was significantly higher in COVID-19 wards However, there was no total adherence of 100% in COVID-19 wards.

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