Identifying and Implementing Strategies to Reduce the Risk of Self-Contamination of Health Care Workers Caused by Doffing of Personal Protective Equipment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Saran, Sai; Gurjar, Mohan; Garg, Atul

doi:10.1017/dmp.2020.396

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…Identifying and implementing strategies and approaches to reduce the chances of infection among healthcare workers is a priority for any healthcare facility, especially during the pandemic. In addition to existing infection control standards, there is an urgent need for incorporating recent information and advancements to reduce contamination of healthcare workers, including dentists [ 51 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 in Dental Settings: Novel Risk Assessment Approach

Alsaegh

Belova

Vasil’ev

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern, and this emergency led to postponing elective dental care procedures. The postponing aimed to protect the public from an unknown risk caused by COVID-19. At the beginning of the outbreak, for public health authorities, the aerosol-generating procedures and the close proximity between dental care workers and patients in dentistry represented sufficient justification for the delay of dental visits. Dental care is a priority, and for many years, studies have proven that the lack and delay of dental care can cause severe consequences for the oral health of the general population, which can cause a high global burden of oral diseases. Safety is necessary while resuming dental activities, and risk assessment is an efficient method for understanding and preventing the COVID-19 infectious threats facing the dental industry and affecting dental care workers and patients. In this study, for safe dental care delivery, we adapted risk assessment criteria and an approach and an occupational classification system. Based on those tools, we also recommend measures that can help to minimize infectious risk in dental settings.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 in Dental Settings: Novel Risk Assessment Approach

Alsaegh

Belova

Vasil’ev

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Although the donning phase is associated with a low risk of contamination, doffing is a critical phase and greatly increases the risk of contamination of caregivers [5][6][7][8][9]. One of the strategies that effectively contributes to reducing staff self-contamination is doffing in structured areas dedicated to the removal of PPE [10,11]. However, this strategy is difficult to apply in the prehospital field, where health care workers must often doff PPE on site.…”

Section: Background and Importancementioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Face-to-Face Teaching in Addition to Electronic Learning on Personal Protective Equipment Doffing Proficiency in Student Paramedics: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Stuby¹,

Currat²,

Gartner³

et al. 2021

JMIR Res Protoc

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Background:The COVID-19 pandemic has brought attention to the importance of correctly using personal protective equipment (PPE). Doffing is a critical phase that increases the risk of contamination of health care workers. Although a gamified electronic learning (e-learning) module has been shown to increase the adequate choice of PPE among prehospital personnel, it failed to enhance knowledge regarding donning and doffing sequences. Adding other training modalities such as face-to-face training to these e-learning tools is therefore necessary to increase prehospital staff proficiency and thus help reduce the risk of contamination. Objective:The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the Peyton 4-step approach in addition to a gamified e-learning module for teaching the PPE doffing sequence to first-year paramedic students.Methods: Participants will first follow a gamified e-learning module before being randomized into one of two groups. In the control group, participants will be asked to perform a PPE doffing sequence, which will be video-recorded to allow for subsequent assessment. In the experimental group, participants will first undergo face-to-face training performed by third-year students using the Peyton 4-step approach before performing the doffing sequence themselves, which will also be video-recorded. All participants will then be asked to reconstruct the doffing sequence on an online platform. The recorded sequences will be assessed independently by two investigators: a prehospital emergency medicine expert and an infection prevention and control specialist. The assessors will be blinded to group allocation. Four to eight weeks after this first intervention, all participants will be asked to record the doffing sequence once again for a subsequent skill retention assessment and to reconstruct the sequence on the same online platform to assess knowledge retention. Finally, participants belonging to the control group will follow face-to-face training. Results:The study protocol has been presented to the regional ethics committee (Req-2020-01340), which issued a declaration of no objection as such projects do not fall within the scope of the Swiss federal law on human research. Study sessions were performed in January and February 2021 in Geneva, and will be performed in April and June 2021 in Bern. Conclusions:This study should help to determine whether face-to-face training using the Peyton 4-step approach improves the application and knowledge retention of a complex procedure when combined with an e-learning module.

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“… 3 It has been reported that 40 percent of HCP make errors while doffing their PPE, causing them to self-contaminate skin and clothing. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 Therefore, it is recommended that PPE monitors be used to promote their colleagues’ safety by guiding them through the donning and doffing processes. 6 , 9 , 10 Early in 2020, the University of North Carolina Medical Center (UNC-MC) chose to incorporate PPE monitors as part of its comprehensive prevention strategy to reduce the risk of staff self-contamination with COVID-19.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 Therefore, it is recommended that PPE monitors be used to promote their colleagues’ safety by guiding them through the donning and doffing processes. 6 , 9 , 10 Early in 2020, the University of North Carolina Medical Center (UNC-MC) chose to incorporate PPE monitors as part of its comprehensive prevention strategy to reduce the risk of staff self-contamination with COVID-19. This paper describes the implementation and use of PPE monitors to observe staff donning and doffing PPE in areas treating known or suspected COVID-19 patients.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%