Required personal protective equipment for prehospital healthcare provider in COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review

Abstract

Aims. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious disease, and a variety of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been recommended as preventive measures for prehospital emergency personnel, which has led to considerable challenges and a great confusion for the personnel. This review aims to identify different types of PPE required in the care of COVID-19 patients in prehospital emergency system. Material and methods. This study was carried out by searching through databases including: Pubmed, Proqust, Google Scholar, and Cinahl. All articles that recommended different types of PPE against COVID-19 and infectious diseases for prehospital emergency personnel were collected in a table. Results. After carrying out the initial search in the databases, 1,009 studies were obtained and then 16 articles were selected. The findings seem to suggest using equipment including: gloves, face shields (shield/goggles), protective clothes (medical jumpsuit/scrubs), surgical masks, N-95 masks, powered air purifying respirators (PAPR), hair covers, shoe covers and washing up the hands by the emergency medical service (EMS) personnel. Discussion. The scrutiny of the relevant studies showed that each of them advised the EMS personnel to use a number of PPE. The present study highlighted the fact that there are other components of the PPE which can be useful to them. Conclusion. This study identified the most appropriate PPE needed for prehospital emergency personnel against COVID-19, and it is believed that planning for adequate access to this equipment and training on how to use them can significantly help to reduce the infection among the personnel.

Exploring stress management strategies among emergency medical service providers in Iran: a qualitative content analysis

“…The coordination and summoning of other relief agencies is the responsibility of the EMS provider at the scene of the accident. Another stress-reducing factor among EMS providers is prioritizing personnel safety and using personal protective equipment during missions [ 35 , 36 ]. EMS providers often have limited information about their patients, work under uncontrolled conditions, and accompany their patients in confined ambulance spaces [ 19 , 37 ].…”

“…In a qualitative study conducted by Sanlıtürk, one of the stressors identified among nurses was the lack of personal protective equipment [ 39 ]. The issue of a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Iran and in almost all countries, especially during the COVID − 19 pandemic, has been highlighted and is considered a significant source of stress in this profession [ 35 ].…”

Psychoeducational training for healthcare workers psychoeducational training for reducing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers

“…The basis of diseases caused by these viruses is acute respiratory infections with high contagiousness and lethality. The study of the multi-year history of coronaviruses does not provide final responses to the question of the emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 in the human population (1,2). COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus of severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-COV-2), which was first discovered in Wuhan, China.…”