Introduction: Personal protective equipment (PPE) provide a physical barrier between the user and microorganisms by preventing microorganisms from contaminating the mucous membranes, airways, skin, clothing, hair and shoes of health care workers. Aim of the work: To describe the practice of nurses and physicians as regards usage of PPE and identify the factors affecting their adherence to using these equipment. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study among health care workers at El-Demerdash hospital (a teaching hospital in Cairo, Egypt). The study included (269) physicians (from demonstrators to professors) and (331) nurses. Participants answered a questionnaire which included items on socio-demographic and occupational characteristics, questions on practice, attitude of health care workers regarding the usage of personal protective equipments. A health education poster was prepared and used by researchers to transmit a message on the importance of using personal protective equipments among health care workers through face to face interviews. Results: It was found that the independent predictors of adherence among physicians were dealing with a patient known to have a blood borne disease, availability of PPE, senior example and past experience. While in nurses the independent predictors were also dealing with patients known to have a blood borne disease, availability of PPE together with no time to use PPE and training on a clear hospital policy. Conclusion: Increasing the awareness of health care workers about the importance of adherence to usage of PPE is very important and will help in reducing transmission of infection to them. Protection of health care workers from acquisition of infectious diseases can be achieved by compliance to established infection control guidelines including rigorous infection control practices, perspective instructions for the use of PPE and post exposure antiviral prophylaxis
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.