Personal Protective Equipment

• Authors: Jill S. Morgan, Emory University
• Book Title: Bioemergency Planning: A Guide for Healthcare Facilities
• Publisher: Springer
• Publication Place: Cham, Switzerland
• Publication Date: 1990
• Edition: 1
• Type of Work: Chapter | Final Publisher PDF
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Health Care Management
• Keywords: Industrial equipment; personal protective equipment (PPE); healthcare worker (HCW); powered air-purifying respirators (PAPR); alcohol-based hand rubs; trained observer; aerosol generating; proprioception; mindfulness; inoculation

Abstract

Mindfulness may not be a term usually associated with personal protective equipment (PPE), but it is a useful concept for the discussion of putting together, layer by layer, the protective barriers that allow the safe provision of care for patients with highly hazardous communicable diseases. Each piece of the full PPE ensemble will have limitations that must be understood by the wearer. Close and careful attention to behaviors in the patient care environment becomes good PPE etiquette. Donning, or putting on PPE, carefully and fully before attending to a patient’s needs is fundamental but not intuitive. Removing PPE is a high-risk procedure that can be performed safely with practice, coaching, and observation. Mitigating risk depends on awareness to all areas of potential contamination and a mindful approach to delivering safe patient care.