TY - JOUR
T1 - Early Doffing among Frontline Healthcare Workers Working in the COVID Areas in Resource-Limited Settings
T2 - Lessons Learned and Interventions Taken
AU - Bhatia, Ridhima
AU - Aggarwal, Richa
AU - Ravichandrane, Banupriya
AU - Rajendrakumar, Karthiga
AU - Ahmed, Aasim
AU - Sahoo, Debasis
AU - Soni, Kapil Dev
AU - Khanna, Puneet
AU - Trikha, Anjan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Background: In the fight against the pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) has played a vital role. However, working with PPE has its own difficulties and problems. The aim of this study was to find out the reasons of early doffing, that is, in doffing in emergency situations before the shift among healthcare workers (HCWs) working in PPE in the COVID areas in resource-limited settings. Methods: This cross-sectional, survey-based study was carried out on healthcare workers involved in direct care of patients with COVID-19 in tertiary care COVID center, India. The questionnaire was sent as a Google form through email and social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook. The data was reported as the mean ± SD for continuous variables and as the percentage for categorical variables. Findings: Among 252 healthcare workers who participated in the survey, 145 (57.5%) participants doffed early on 300 occasions. Out of these 145, 50% doffed early only once and rest doffed early multiple times. The most common reason of early doffing was found to be breach in PPE (15.33%) followed by fogging (14%) and headache (12%), and most commonly, breach was in mask or coverall/gown (32.6% each). Conclusion: Although PPE decreases the risk of infection, it is challenging for HCWs to work in PPE leading to instances of early doffing. The most common reason for early doffing in our study was the breach in PPE and the most common component of breach was found to be mask and coverall/gown. Therefore, we suggest that the proper sizes of the PPE should be made available and proper training in donning should be imparted to HCWs working in PPE.
AB - Background: In the fight against the pandemic, personal protective equipment (PPE) has played a vital role. However, working with PPE has its own difficulties and problems. The aim of this study was to find out the reasons of early doffing, that is, in doffing in emergency situations before the shift among healthcare workers (HCWs) working in PPE in the COVID areas in resource-limited settings. Methods: This cross-sectional, survey-based study was carried out on healthcare workers involved in direct care of patients with COVID-19 in tertiary care COVID center, India. The questionnaire was sent as a Google form through email and social media platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook. The data was reported as the mean ± SD for continuous variables and as the percentage for categorical variables. Findings: Among 252 healthcare workers who participated in the survey, 145 (57.5%) participants doffed early on 300 occasions. Out of these 145, 50% doffed early only once and rest doffed early multiple times. The most common reason of early doffing was found to be breach in PPE (15.33%) followed by fogging (14%) and headache (12%), and most commonly, breach was in mask or coverall/gown (32.6% each). Conclusion: Although PPE decreases the risk of infection, it is challenging for HCWs to work in PPE leading to instances of early doffing. The most common reason for early doffing in our study was the breach in PPE and the most common component of breach was found to be mask and coverall/gown. Therefore, we suggest that the proper sizes of the PPE should be made available and proper training in donning should be imparted to HCWs working in PPE.
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U2 - 10.4103/ijoem.ijoem_46_22
DO - 10.4103/ijoem.ijoem_46_22
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85203542157
SN - 0973-2284
VL - 27
SP - 209
EP - 213
JO - Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
JF - Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
IS - 3
ER -