Family Physicians' Experiences, Behaviour, and Use of Personal Protection Equipment During the SARS Outbreak in Singapore: Do They Fit the Becker Health Belief Model?

Abstract

Singapore experienced the SARS outbreak in 2003. The study aimed to describe the experience and behaviour of family physicians and the use of personal protection equipment (PPE) in their encounters with SARS patients. 8 such participants were interviewed and the content was analysed using qualitative research method. They highlighted the difficulties in procuring PPE due to severe shortage, the discomfort and inconvenience associated with its use. Despite the increasing operating cost, declining patient attendance and high price of the PPE, they persist in using PPE and change their behaviour in order to reduce the perceived threat to their lives. It fits into the Becker Health Belief Model, which explains that behaviour change depends on the balance of perceived vulnerability, severity, effectiveness, and barriers. The vulnerability and severity of SARS to healthcare workers were verified by the hospital experience. Perceived effectiveness of PPE amongst the family physicians outweighed the barriers of shortage, cost and discomfort of the PPE.

Maintenance of influenza virus infectivity on the surfaces of personal protective equipment and clothing used in healthcare settings

“…The detection limit of the TCID 50 assay was determined to be 0.8 log 10 TCID 50 /mL Environ Health Prev Med (2010) 15:344-349 347 settings for at least 8 h. However, on the surface of rubber gloves, the virus can maintain its infectivity for the relatively long time of 24 h. Accordingly, healthcare professionals should renew/replace personal protective equipment if they have been exposed to droplets from patients with influenza [26,27]; however, in practice, personal protective equipment cannot be replaced for each patient. For example, during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) panademic, personal protective equipment could not be replaced for each patient for the simple reason that there was a shortage in the supply of such equipment and clothing [28]. However, our findings suggest that caring for patients without an renewal or replacement of protective equipment may be responsible for cross-infection of influenza virus and, therefore, that a frequent replacement of personal protective equipment for each patient would prevent cross-infection.…”

Response of General Practitioners to Infectious Disease Public Health Crises: An Integrative Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Compliance with the advice to use PPE was measured in 2 survey studies 18,23 and discussed in 1 qualitative study. 26 Differing inclinations to comply with the advice to use PPE were found. In Singapore during the SARS outbreak 26 and in Hong Kong during the H1N1 pandemic, 23 GPs were reported to have high compliance with the guidelines to wear PPE.…”

Avian influenza and South Jakarta primary healthcare workers: a controlled mixed‐method study

“…However, the needs of primary healthcare workers (PHW) are often neglected during respiratory epidemics in areas such as provision of personal protection measures (PPM) and anti‐viral medications (Hogg et al. 2006; Tan et al. 2006).…”