Clusters of Elements for Quality Assurance of Health Worker Protection Measures in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) pandemic has had a significant impact on the healthcare delivery system worldwide. Many pre-pandemic norms, standards, and methods of providing medical services in most medical facilities had to be changed and re-evaluated. Many of them will likely stay changed and will probably never be provided in the same way in post-pandemic reality. The COVID-19 crisis is still ongoing and some sources say that we should be prepared for a third wave of the pandemic. The scope of the analysis conducted in this publication is related to the healthcare sector, including services and Polish healthcare professionals’ work quality during the COVID-19 crisis. The research gap, the basis for conducting new research, is the lack of clarified results analysing the quality assurance of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is necessary to ask about healthcare professionals’ rate of personal protective equipment quality in Polish medical facilities. The result of cluster analysis will help us to know what the clusters for variables on quality assurance of protection measures for healthcare workers are. The research was carried out using a questionnaire survey on a sample of 21 medical personnel in Polish hospitals. The main findings of this publication are problems with information flow between staff and staff managers and determining appropriate zones. The quality of the personal protective equipment offered by medical facilities’ management and their availability is at an appropriate level. The publication aims to analyse the level of quality assurance of health care worker protection measures in the example of Silesian voivodeships in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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What healthcare professionals owe us: why their duty to treat during a pandemic is contingent on personal protective equipment (PPE)

Journal of Medical Ethics ◽

10.1136/medethics-2020-106278 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (7) ◽

pp. 432-435 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Udo Schuklenk

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Healthcare Delivery ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Short Supply ◽

Universal Precautions ◽

Tax Regimes ◽

Global North ◽

Allocation Decisions

Healthcare professionals’ capacity to protect themselves, while caring for infected patients during an infectious disease pandemic, depends on their ability to practise universal precautions. In turn, universal precautions rely on the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE). During the SARS-CoV2 outbreak many healthcare workers across the globe have been reluctant to provide patient care because crucial PPE components are in short supply. The lack of such equipment during the pandemic was not a result of careful resource allocation decisions in the global north, where the short supply could be explained through their high cost. Instead, they were the result of democratically elected governments prioritising low tax regimes over an adequate resourcing of their healthcare delivery systems. Such decisions were made despite global health experts warning about the high probability of pandemics like SARS-CoV2 occurring during our lifetimes. Avoidable allocation decisions by democratically elected political leaders resulted in a lack of sufficient PPE for healthcare professionals. After discussing and discounting various ethical arguments in support of a professional obligation to treat, even without or with suboptimal PPE, I conclude that these policy decisions were sufficiently grave that they provide a sound ethical rationale to justify healthcare workers’ refusal to provide care to infected patients.

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Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Personal Safety Measures Adopted by Medical Practioners during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences ◽

10.14260/jemds/2021/190 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 883-887

Author(s):

Hemapriya L ◽

Maureen Prativa Tigga ◽

Anil Kumar M.R ◽

Prathap T ◽

Neha Wali ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Online Survey ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Well Being ◽

World Health ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Personal Safety ◽

Safety Measures

BACKGROUND A novel coronavirus (now termed as SARS-CoV-2) was detected as the causative agent of severe pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. Declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a global pandemic in March 2020, it has created profound changes in global economy and healthcare systems. This study evaluates the knowledge and practice with regard to various personal safety measures used by the healthcare professionals. METHODS We conducted a questionnaire study after obtaining approval, from the Institutional ethical committee. An online survey was conducted using a preformatted questionnaire consisting of multiple-choice questions which assessed the knowledge and practices adopted by various healthcare professionals. The survey was done between 1st and 30th of June 2020 and a total of 536 responses was analysed. RESULTS 58.4 % of the participants were females, 66 % of the healthcare workers worked at a private hospital / private medical college with 82.1 % being located in urban areas. Of the 536 respondents, 90.1 % practiced bathing immediately after returning home and 86.8 % sanitized their accessories. 86.9 % of the professionals used frequent sanitization with use of mask and gloves whereas only 12.3 % used full personal protective equipment. 58 % of females had used hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis whereas only 41 % of males used it (statistically significant, P = 0.005). Healthcare workers in younger age group (23 - 40 years) were more likely to maintain distance with family members, and government doctors were significantly more likely to do so (P < 0.001) as compared to private practitioners. CONCLUSIONS With the medical professionals being at high risk for contracting the infection, the need to provide the healthcare professionals with adequate personal protective equipment is of utmost importance. There is also a need to maintain the well-being of the healthcare professionals as they are the weakest link in the chain. KEY WORDS Medical Practitioners, Personal Protective Equipment, Safety Measures

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Impact of enhanced personal protective equipment on the physical and mental well-being of healthcare workers during COVID-19

Postgraduate Medical Journal ◽

10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139150 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. postgradmedj-2020-139150 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ramanathan Swaminathan ◽

Bimantha Perera Mukundadura ◽

Shashi Prasad

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Well Being ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Impact ◽

Mental Well Being

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the use of enhanced personal protective equipment (PPE) in healthcare workers in patient-facing roles. We describe the impact on the physical and mental well-being of healthcare professionals who use enhanced PPE consistently.MethodsWe conducted a single-centre, cross-sectional study among healthcare professionals who use enhanced PPE. A web-based questionnaire was disseminated to evaluate the effects on individuals’ physical and mental well-being. Physical and mental impact was assessed through a visual analogue scale.ResultsProspective analysis of the views of 72 respondents is reported. 63.9% were women and 36.1% were men. Physical impact included exhaustion, headache, skin changes, breathlessness and a negative impact on vision. Communication difficulties, somnolence, negative impact on overall performance and difficulties in using surgical instrumentation were reported.ConclusionOur study demonstrates the undeniable negative impact on the front-line healthcare workers using enhanced PPE and lays the ground for larger multicentric assessments given for it to potentially be the norm for the foreseeable future.

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A Personal Respirator to Improve Protection for Healthcare Workers Treating COVID-19 (PeRSo)

Frontiers in Medical Technology ◽

10.3389/fmedt.2021.664259 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Paul T. Elkington ◽

Alexander S. Dickinson ◽

Mark N. Mavrogordato ◽

Daniel C. Spencer ◽

Richard J. Gillams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Healthcare Delivery ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Low Resource Settings ◽

Supply Logistics ◽

Global Pandemic ◽

Manufacturing Complexity ◽

Validation Testing

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 infection is a global pandemic. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to protect healthcare workers has been a recurrent challenge in terms of global stocks, supply logistics and suitability. In some settings, around 20% of healthcare workers treating COVID-19 cases have become infected, which leads to staff absence at peaks of the pandemic, and in some cases mortality.Methods: To address shortcomings in PPE, we developed a simple powered air purifying respirator, made from inexpensive and widely available components. The prototype was designed to minimize manufacturing complexity so that derivative versions could be developed in low resource settings with minor modification.Results: The “Personal Respirator – Southampton” (PeRSo) delivers High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtered air from a battery powered fan-filter assembly into a lightweight hood with a clear visor that can be comfortably worn for several hours. Validation testing demonstrates that the prototype removes microbes, avoids excessive CO2 build-up in normal use, and passes fit test protocols widely used to evaluate standard N95/FFP2 and N99/FFP3 face masks. Feedback from doctors and nurses indicate the PeRSo prototype was preferred to standard FFP2 and FFP3 masks, being more comfortable and reducing the time and risk of recurrently changing PPE. Patients report better communication and reassurance as the entire face is visible.Conclusion: Rapid upscale of production of cheaply produced powered air purifying respirators, designed to achieve regulatory approval in the country of production, could protect healthcare workers from infection and improve healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Blood biomarkers for assessing headaches in healthcare workers after wearing biological personal protective equipment in a COVID-19 field-hospital

10.21203/rs.3.rs-55229/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Francisco Martín-Rodríguez ◽

Raquel M. Portillo Rubiales ◽

Laura N. Fadrique Millán ◽

Virginia Carbajosa Rodríguez ◽

Ancor Sanz-García ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

De Novo ◽

Blood Analysis ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Blood Biomarkers ◽

Field Hospital ◽

Treatment Unit ◽

Baseline Creatinine

Abstract The consequences of wearing biosafety equipment by healthcare professionals during their work and the prediction of such consequences need to be assessed. To analyze the role played by different blood biomarkers in predicting the appearance of headaches in healthcare workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) in a COVID-19 treatment unit, a Prospective cohort study of 38 healthcare workers from a convalescence unit of patients with COVID-19 in a field hospital was performed during April 2020. Blood analysis was carried out before the start of the 4 hours shift of the volunteers equipped with PPE. After decontamination, there were asked if they had suffered from headache, obtaining the binary outcome. This study included 38 participants with a median age of 29 years (25th-75th percentile: 26-44 years old), 73.7% female (28 cases). 44.7% (17 cases) had a headache after wearing PPE for 4 hours. The baseline creatinine value reflected a specific odds ratio in the regression model of 241.36 (95% CI: 2.50-23,295.43; p=0.019), and an AUC of 0.737 (95%CI: 0.57-0.90; p<0.01). Blood creatinine is a good candidate for predicting the appearance of a de novo headache in healthcare workers after wearing PPE for 4 hours in a COVID – 19 unit.

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Availability and use of personal protective equipment and satisfaction of healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Archives of Public Health ◽

10.1186/s13690-021-00668-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 79 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Wakgari Deressa ◽

Alemayehu Worku ◽

Workeabeba Abebe ◽

Muluken Gizaw ◽

Wondwossen Amogne

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Addis Ababa ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Public Hospitals ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Healthcare Facilities ◽

Increased Risk

Abstract Background Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are at the frontline in the fight against COVID-19 and are at an increased risk of becoming infected with coronavirus. Risk of infection can be minimized by use of proper personal protective equipment (PPE). The aim of this study was to assess the availability and use of PPE, and satisfaction of HCPs with PPE in six public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1134 HCPs in June 2020. A systematic random sampling and consecutive sampling techniques were used to select the study participants. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the data and Chi-square test was used to assess the association between the groups. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess factors associated with satisfaction of healthcare workers. Results The mean (±SD) age of the participants was 30.26 ± 6.43 year and 52.6% were females. Nurses constituted about 40% of the overall sample, followed by physicians (22.2%), interns (10.8%), midwives (10.3%) and others (16.7%). The majority (77%) of the HCPs reported that their hospital did not have adequate PPE. A critical shortage of N95 respirators was particularly reported, it only increased from 13 to 24% before and during COVID-19, respectively. The use of N95 increased from 9 to 21% before and during COVID-19, respectively. Almost 72% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the availability and use of PPE in their hospital. The independent predictors of the respondents’ satisfaction level about PPE were healthcare workers who reported that PPE was adequately available in the hospital (adjusted OR = 7.65, 95% CI:5.09–11.51), and preparedness to provide care to COVID-19 cases (adjusted OR = 2.07, 95% CI:1.42–3.03). Conclusions A critical shortage of appropriate PPE and high level of dissatisfaction with the availability and use of PPE were identified. Therefore, urgent efforts are needed to adequately supply the healthcare facilities with appropriate PPE to alleviate the challenges.

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Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Personal Safety Measures Adopted by Medical Practioners During the COVID 19 Pandemic

10.21203/rs.3.rs-93569/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Hemapriya.L Kukreja ◽

Maureen Prativa Tigga ◽

Neha Wali ◽

Prathap.T ◽

Anil Kumar M R ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Significant Risk ◽

Well Being ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Personal Safety ◽

Safety Measures ◽

Attitude And Practice ◽

Knowledge Attitude And Practice

Abstract Introduction: A novel coronavirus (now termed as SARS-CoV 2) was detected as causative agent of severe pneumonia in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. Declared by the WHO as a global pandemic in March 2020, it has created profound changes in global economy and healthcare systems. COVID-19 is transmitted through close contact and droplets with healthcare professionals at significant risk of acquiring the infection, thus requiring to protect themselves. Various measures help in protecting the professionals from contracting the infection. These include hand hygiene, N95 masks, goggles, gloves, gowns, face shields, coveralls and frequent sanitization. Healthcare professionals need to be educated in these various modalities with proper protocols and policies enacted by the health institutions. This study evaluates the knowledge, attitude and practice of various personal safety measures used by the healthcare professionals.Materials and Methods: After institution ethical committee approval, we conducted an online survey with a preformatted questionnaire consisting of multiple choice questions which assessed the knowledge, attitude and practices adopted by the various healthcare professionals. The survey was done between 1st - 30th of June 2020 and a total of 536 responses were analyzed. Results: 58.4% of the participants were females, 66% of the healthcare workers worked at a private hospital/ private medical college with 82.1% being located in urban areas. Of the 536 respondents, 90.1% practiced bathing immediately after returning home and 86.8% sanitized their accessories. 86.9% of the professionals used frequent sanitization with use of mask and gloves whereas only 12.3% used full personal protective equipment. 58% of females had used Hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis whereas only 41% of males used it ( statistically significant, p = 0.005 ). Healthcare workers in younger age group ( 23-40 years ) were more likely to maintain distance with family members and government doctors were significantly more likely to do so ( p< 0.001 ) as compared to private practitioners. Conclusion: With the medical professionals being at high risk for contracting the infection, the need to provide the healthcare professionals with adequate personal protective equipment is of utmost importance. There is also a need to maintain the well-being of the healthcare professionals as they are the weakest link in the chain.

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Medical Students Volunteering during COVID-19 Pandemic: Synopsis of Some Student-led Initiatives in Nepal

Journal of Nepal Medical Association ◽

10.31729/jnma.6703 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 59 (240) ◽

Author(s):

Pragyan Basnet ◽

Anjali Joshi

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

General Public ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Telemedicine Service ◽

Raising Awareness ◽

Security Personnel ◽

Frontline Healthcare Workers

The efforts shown by healthcare professionals, security personnel and the general public in fighting Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic is highly appreciable. Medical students are future healthcare professionals and have the opportunity to volunteer and help their seniors fight Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. In Nepal, we as medical students are contributing by raising awareness about Coronavirus Disease 2019 along with some innovative initiatives which are Project Personal Protective Equipment, Project Telemedicine and the ″Donate Plasma, Help Defeat COVID-19″ Campaign. Since we were able to support thousands of frontline healthcare workers with personal protective equipment and reduce burden in hospitals by providing telemedicine service, we believe such volunteering and initiations from medical students can be an inspiration for all students for future crises.

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Attitudes and beliefs of Spanish healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Science Progress ◽

10.1177/00368504211003775 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 104 (2) ◽

pp. 003685042110037

Author(s):

Borja Nicolás Santana López ◽

Yeray G. Santana-Padilla ◽

Jesús M. González-Martín ◽

Luciano Santana-Cabrera

Keyword(s):

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Professionals ◽

National Level ◽

Descriptive Study ◽

Infection Risk ◽

Professional Commitment ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Attitudes And Beliefs ◽

Online Questionnaire

During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals are taking the risk of becoming infected or infecting their families. Spain is the country with the highest number of infected healthcare professionals worldwide. Our aim was to study the attitudes and beliefs of these professionals during the current pandemic. Descriptive study conducted by using an online questionnaire—based on an earlier one—which was sent to healthcare professionals at the national level, during the week March 20-27, 2020. Healthcare professionals returned 971 completed questionnaires. A total of 803 (82.7%) participants thought that they did not have suitable PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) to protect them from infection with COVID-19. In addition, even 229 (23.58%) agreed to go on working even if they were not. In spite of this, 606 (62.4%) of them were ready to work, even with a higher-than-usual risk of becoming infected at work and getting ill. Remarkably high professional commitment has been observed among Spanish healthcare workers in the current pandemic. They were ready to work even when many of them considered that they did not have suitable PPEs, and were thus taking a higher than usual infection risk. However, they put the health of their relatives before their duties at work.

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Hair Covering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Is Essential Need for Frontline Healthcare Workers – Fight Against COVID_19

International Journal of Infectious Diseases and Research ◽

10.47485/2693-2326.1011 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Significant Role ◽

Potential Risk ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Healthcare Sector ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Small Particles ◽

Surgical Masks ◽

Frontline Healthcare Workers

Protective gears are recommended for airborne diseases transmitted through small particles (droplets), for this reason, the term “PPE” has become popular and much spoken of since the outbreak of COVID-19. PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment (Osha, 2019). PPE is used in most professions where the potential risk of contracting the deadly virus is high. The focus of this article will be on the healthcare sector and what significant role PPE plays in combating COVID_19 pandemic. To continually contribute to the literature, this article seeks to address how incomplete PPE can affect and increase the risk of contracting the deadly virus. Healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, and caregivers have been and still are in the frontline fighting the COVID_19 virus, as a result, there is the need for a complete PPE including hair covering, face shields and surgical masks, to help keep them safe from contracting this transferable virus.

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