Lee Young-A, Salahuddin Mir, Gibson-Young Linda, Oliver Gretchen D
Department of Consumer and Design Sciences Auburn University Auburn Alabama USA.
School of Nursing Auburn University Auburn Alabama USA.
Health Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 8;4(3):e370. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.370. eCollection 2021 Sep.
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical for healthcare workers (HCWs) since it acts as a barrier to infection transmission; however, current PPE is not ideally suited to their needs due to limitations in protection and comfort. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify major issues of current PPE for body protection and assess its needs within health care.
An online survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 200 U.S. healthcare professionals who interact with patients. The survey was designed to identify the types of PPE that HCWs currently use, assess current PPE design features for body protection, examine the effect of PPE design features for body protection, and HCWs' years of work experiences on overall PPE acceptability, and explore current PPE maintenance practices. Both quantitative and qualitative data were used for analyses.
This study showed the need for current PPE improvement in terms of fit, comfort, mobility, and donning and doffing for HCWs' safety and health. Donning and doffing plays an important role in HCWs' overall acceptance of PPE for body protection. This study revealed that most HCWs dispose of their PPE in a trashcan in a healthcare unit and non-disposed PPE is laundered at home, which may expose their family members to a health risk if a proper precaution is not followed.
This study provides critical insights for the needs of (a) novel PPE design research and (b) proper donning and doffing training and its strict regulatory effort to ensure HCWs' safety and health.
个人防护装备（PPE）对医护人员至关重要，因为它可作为感染传播的屏障；然而，由于在防护和舒适性方面存在局限性，目前的个人防护装备并不完全适合他们的需求。因此，本研究的目的是确定当前用于身体防护的个人防护装备的主要问题，并评估其在医疗保健领域的需求。
对200名与患者有接触的美国医疗专业人员进行了便利抽样在线调查。该调查旨在确定医护人员目前使用的个人防护装备类型，评估当前用于身体防护的个人防护装备设计特点，检查用于身体防护的个人防护装备设计特点以及医护人员的工作年限对个人防护装备总体可接受性的影响，并探索当前个人防护装备的维护做法。定量和定性数据均用于分析。
本研究表明，为了医护人员的安全和健康，目前的个人防护装备在合身性、舒适性、机动性以及穿脱方面需要改进。穿脱在医护人员对用于身体防护的个人防护装备的总体接受度中起着重要作用。本研究表明，大多数医护人员将个人防护装备丢弃在医疗单位的垃圾桶中，未丢弃的个人防护装备则在家中清洗，如果不采取适当的预防措施，这可能会使他们的家人面临健康风险。
本研究为以下两方面的需求提供了重要见解：（a）新型个人防护装备设计研究，以及（b）适当的穿脱培训及其严格的监管措施，以确保医护人员的安全和健康。
