How Clinicians Manage Routinely Low Supplies of Personal Protective Equipment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dickson VV ; Klar RT ; Ridge LJ ; Squires AP ; Stimpfel AW
• Description:
  Background: Recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) is routinely limited or unavailable in low-income countries, but there is limited research as to how clinicians adapt to that scarcity, despite the implications for patients and workers. Methods: This is a qualitative secondary analysis of case study data collected in Liberia in 2019. Data from the parent study were included in this analysis if it addressed availability and use of PPE in the clinical setting. Conventional content analysis was used on data including: field notes documenting nurse practice, semi-structured interview transcripts, and photographs. Results: Data from the majority of participants (32/37) and all facilities (12/12) in the parent studies were included. Eighty-three percent of facilities reported limited PPE. Five management strategies for coping with limited PPE supplies were observed, reported, or both: rationing PPE, self-purchasing PPE, asking patients to purchase PPE, substituting PPE, and working without PPE. Approaches to rationing PPE included using PPE only for symptomatic patients or not performing physical exams. Substitutions for PPE were based on supply availability. Conclusions: Strategies developed by clinicians to manage low PPE likely have negative consequences for both workers and patients; further research into the topic is important, as is better PPE provision in low-income countries. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Men Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Women
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Care Quality Humans Low- And Middle-income Countries Medical Facilities Nurses Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment PPE Qualitative Analysis Statistical Analysis
• ISSN:
  0196-6553
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  49
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20064073
• Citation:
  Am J Infect Control 2021 Dec; 49(12):1488-1492
• Contact Point Address:
  Laura Jean Ridge, PhD, RN, Department of Systems, Population and Leadership, University of Michigan School of Nursing, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
• Email:
  ljridge@umich.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  Mount Sinai School of Medicine
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Infection Control
• End Date:
  20270630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce4c09db0a016346e913023290fe9ca8252b9433824aa7dfd15d5456dbf3c4ebd5d9881e2598015c32d6b96f34f8810adb6da02dc2ac68b36cbf60950686f87a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/222599/cdc_222599_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 587.19 KB ]