Beta
278169

Attitude and practices of personal protective equipment, telemedicine, and social distance among health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic: An international study

Article

Last updated: 25 Dec 2024

Subjects

-

Tags

Infectious diseases

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a huge burden on health systems worldwide. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at the frontline in this battle and personal protective equipment (PPE) is a crucial element for their safety. Objectives: to assess the attitude and practices of PPE among HCWs alongside its availability and toxicities as well as to assess the use of telemedicine, physical barriers, and practice of social distance among HCWs. Methods: A cross sectional online survey was conducted between July and November 2020.  Healthcare workers from different countries were invited to participate via emails and social platforms. Results: Out of 384 requested to participate, 119 participants completed the survey. The mean age for the participants was 41.5± 10.4. Females accounted for (n=83, 69.8%). Although 67.2% said they received training for the correct use of PPE, a 69.7% and 79.8% failed to answer the correct order of donning and doffing PPE, respectively; (n=92, 77.3%) mentioned that N95/FFP2 respirators were the kind of masks routinely used for care of confirmed COVID-19 cases and (n=90, 75.6%) claimed that fit testing was done for N95/FFP2 respirators before use. Thirty-nine participants (n=39, 32.8%) said that they extended the use of PPE > 12 hours. Hazmat suit, overshoes, respirators, hair caps, and goggles were the most deficient PPE. The most frequently reported adverse events when working with PPEs were heat intolerance (47.1%), headache (43.7%), pressure areas (32.8%), and extreme exhaustion (31.1%). Regarding other protective measures, (n= 79, 66.4%) said they are maintaining adequate social distance; (n= 64, 53.8%) and (n=66, 55.5%) declared the use of physical barrier and telemedicine, respectively. As regard the attitude, a (n=79, 66.4%) said it is convenient to comply with the recommended PPE when examining COVID-19 cases. Conclusion: Donning and doffing were the most common PPE malpractices. There was a positive attitude towards PPE among the HCWs. There was limited access to telemedicine, physical barriers, and application of social distance inside the healthcare facilities.

DOI

10.21608/mid.2023.181062.1425

Keywords

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, PPE, Telemedicine, Healthcare workers

Authors

First Name

Dina

Last Name

Ali

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Tropical Medicine Department, Faculty of Human Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt

Email

dinaalali488@gmail.com

City

Zagazig

Orcid

0000-0002-2501-8309

First Name

Khaled

Last Name

Raafat

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Human Medicine, Ain Shams University, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Rehab

Last Name

El-Sokkary

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Medical Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Human Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt

Email

rehab_elsokkary@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

0000-0002-8135-7671

Volume

4

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

39092

Issue Date

2023-02-01

Receive Date

2022-12-15

Publish Date

2023-02-01

Page Start

44

Page End

55

Print ISSN

2682-4132

Online ISSN

2682-4140

Link

https://mid.journals.ekb.eg/article_278169.html

Detail API

https://mid.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=278169

Order

8

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,157

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Microbes and Infectious Diseases

Publication Link

https://mid.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Attitude and practices of personal protective equipment, telemedicine, and social distance among health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic: An international study

Details

Type

Article

Created At

25 Dec 2024