In the Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has affected the entire world, the healthcare professionals (HCPs) risking their lives in the frontline and fighting the virus are at a greater risk of transmission than the general population owing to their direct contact with the patients (1). Personal protective equipment (PPE) for the frontline healthcare staff fighting the COVID-19 pandemic mitigates the risk of hospital transmission of COVID-19 by covering the exposed body parts. Workers are exposed to many types of hazards that can be prevented or minimized by using PPE properly.
PPE should include respiratory protection, protective clothing, and protective barriers used to protect the workers from viral exposure (2). These details are very important for protecting healthcare professionals. However, in emergencies where rapid preparation time is required, healthcare workers may have little or no time to collect and wear PPE properly. Health care professionals should be easily accessible to PPE, and they should be wear it quickly and accurately in this situations. For this purpose, we comprehensively assembled the required equipment in one package; we have added the dressing list of equipment and what should be present in the Kit/package (Figure 1). It is far more beneficial having all the required PPE assembled in one package/kit, which eliminates the confusion for the healthcare workers collecting each item in the PPE individually. This process should significantly decrease the preparation time, and it is aimed for the HCPs to wear the PPE in the correct order.
Figure 1.
Package and contents of the ‘personal protection equipment KIT’
The contents of the COVID-19 PPE kit can vary among different places and teams. Following is a list designed for the operating theatre:
Medical bonnet,
Filtering facepiece (FFP)-2/FFP-3 mask,
Surgical face mask,
Eye goggles,
First pair of gloves (nitrile),
Long sleeve fluid resistant gown/coverall,
A pair of boots,
Face shield,
Second pair of gloves (sterile or non-sterile).
These packages can be carried easily and can be worn in the order as mentioned in the list. A simple zipper bag, which is easily found anywhere, can be used for packaging these items. The order in the aforementioned list should be followed for packing the items in a bag that should be easily accessible and ready to use.
The shortage of material in the world is an issue with PPE. Therefore, the number of PPE should be restricted, and conserving PPE is essential. Thus, the equipment should not be wasted and should be properly used during the pandemic. Having an appropriate supply and proper use of PPE will continue to be a major priority for the health systems.
These COVID-19 PPE kits were prepared under the leadership of the Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation at our institution as a part of the organizational plan for the operating room’s preparation during the pandemic.
According to our knowledge, there has been no study describing the PPE kit and its benefits. In our opinion, the fact that PPE can be accessed as a kit rather than in pieces will be a factor that facilitates the work and saves time in these challenging days.
Footnotes
Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed.
Author Contributions: Concept – H.T.; Design – H.T.; Supervision – H.T., A.O.; Resources –H.T., A.O.; Materials – H.T., A.O.; Data Collection and/or Processing – H.T., A.O.; Analysis and/or Interpretation – H.T., A.O.; Literature Search – H.T., A.O.; Writing Manuscript – H.T., A.O.; Critical Review – H.T., A.O.; Others – H.T., A.O.
Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Financial Disclosure: The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.
References
- 1.Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-on-infection-prevention-and-control-for-health-care-workers-caring-for-patients-with-suspected-or-confirmed-2019-ncov. (cited 19 march 2020). Available from: URL: https://www.who.int/publications-detail/infection-prevention-and-control-during-health-care-when-novel-coronavirus-(ncov)-infection-is-suspected-20200125
- 2.Verbeek JH, Rajamaki B, Ijaz S, Sauni R, Toomey E, Blackwood B, et al. Personal protective equipment for preventing highly infectious diseases due to exposure to contaminated body fluids in healthcare staff. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020;4:CD011621. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011621.pub4. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]