Health Secur. 2017 May/Jun;15(3):244-252. doi: 10.1089/hs.2016.0129.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) that protects healthcare workers from infection is a critical component of infection control strategies in healthcare settings. During a public health emergency response, protecting healthcare workers from infectious disease is essential, given that they provide clinical care to those who fall ill, have a high risk of exposure, and need to be assured of occupational safety. Like most goods in the United States, the PPE market supply is based on demand. The US PPE supply chain has minimal ability to rapidly surge production, resulting in challenges to meeting large unexpected increases in demand that might occur during a public health emergency. Additionally, a significant proportion of the supply chain is produced off-shore and might not be available to the US market during an emergency because of export restrictions or nationalization of manufacturing facilities. Efforts to increase supplies during previous public health emergencies have been challenging. During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic, the commercial supply chain of pharmaceutical and healthcare products quickly became critical response components. This article reviews lessons learned from these responses from a PPE supply chain and systems perspective and examines ways to improve PPE readiness for future responses.
个人防护设备 (PPE) 可保护医护人员免受感染，是医疗机构感染控制策略的重要组成部分。在公共卫生应急响应期间，保护医护人员免受传染病的侵害至关重要，因为他们为患病者提供临床护理，而这些医护人员接触感染者的风险较高，需要确保职业安全。与美国大多数商品一样，PPE 市场供应基于需求。美国的 PPE 供应链几乎没有能力快速增加产量，这导致在公共卫生紧急情况下难以满足可能出现的大量意外需求增长的挑战。此外，供应链的很大一部分是在海外生产的，在紧急情况下可能无法供应给美国市场，因为出口限制或生产设施国有化。在以前的公共卫生紧急情况下增加供应的努力一直具有挑战性。在 2009 年 H1N1 流感大流行和 2014 年埃博拉病毒疫情期间，医药和医疗产品的商业供应链迅速成为关键的应对组成部分。本文从 PPE 供应链和系统的角度回顾了这些应对措施中吸取的经验教训，并探讨了如何为未来的应对措施做好 PPE 准备。
