جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « personal protective equipment » در نشریات گروه « پزشکی »

Utilizing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is pivotal in averting infection transmission to both patients and nurses. The attitude of nurses is a critical determinant in their compliance with PPE usage. This study seeks to explore the correlation between the attitudes of Iranian nurses and their beliefs, experiences, and knowledge concerning the application of PPE.

In this cross‑sectional study, 303 nurses employed in hospitals affiliated with Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences (Iran) were chosen using a quota sampling technique. Between April and June 2022, they completed self‑administered questionnaires, which consisted of a Demographic Information form and a four‑part questionnaire on “Attitude, Belief, Experience, Knowledge” concerning the utilization of PPE. Data were analyzed utilizing descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The multiple linear regression model was applied to investigate the relationship between attitude scores and various examined variables.

The findings indicated that most participants held bachelor’s degrees (93.07%), and their attitude scores toward using PPE exceeded 3.25 out of 6 for all 12 questions. Female gender, increased work experience, and higher organizational positions exhibited positive and significant associations with a favorable attitude toward PPE utilization. Conversely, the absence of training related to PPE, a lack of belief in infection control, and limited knowledge displayed negative correlations.

Nurses have an ethical obligation to adhere to infection control guidelines, including consistently utilizing PPE, regardless of the level of infection risk or the visibility of the infection. Continuous training and regular monitoring of nurses in this context are indispensable.

Endotracheal intubation is a potentially high-risk aerosol-generating procedure. So, an intubation box (I-Box) is designed for personal protection during intubation. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of endotracheal intubation with and without an I-box in COVID-19 patients.

In this study, 60 COVID-19 patients (30 patients in each group) with and without I-box groups were included. outcomes of intubation including duration of intubation, first-pass success intubation, suitable visibility of airways, restriction of movement in the neck, the need to surface maneuvering of the airway, and the number of attempts for successful intubation were compared between the two groups.

The time of intubation was significantly longer in the I-box group (15.27±2.6 seconds) than without the I-box group (8.37±1.3 seconds) (p<0.001). All patients (100%) were intubated in the first attempt in the without I-box group while the rate of first-pass success intubation was 50% in the I-box group (p <0.001). The visibility of the airway was significantly better in the without I-box group than the I-box group (without I-box: 23 patients (76.7%), I-box: 15 patients (50%), p= 0.032). The frequency of need to optimizing maneuver of the airway was in without and with I-box was 23.3% and 50% respectively (p=0.032).

However, the I-box as a physical barrier can protect healthcare workers but its use increased the time to intubation and the number of attempts for successful intubation and reduced the rate of first-pass success intubation and visibility.

Health education is the means by which professional knowledge is improved. In this context, the combination of multimodal educational strategies must be implemented and evaluated to verify their impacts on the adherence of professionals working in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) care sectors, especially in a pandemic scenario.

This study aimed to evaluate self-reported adherence to standard precautions (SP) among nursing professionals before and after a multimodal educational intervention.

This quasi-experimental study was carried out before and after the multimodal educational intervention within February and June 2022. The intervention comprised three educational strategies, previously published separately: The use of a composite of five moments for educational construction, a validated educational video, and a problematizing discussion with the use of a quiz (true or false), focusing on questions with the lowest correct rate (cut-off < 70%) in phase 1 of data collection. The study involved 99 nursing professionals from a large hospital in the Brazilian Midwest. This study used a sociodemographic characterization instrument and the Compliance with Standard Precautions Scale (CSPS) to assess adherence to SP. The scores before and after the intervention were represented with mean and standard deviation. The Wilcoxon test, Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test were performed using SPSS software (version 20.0).

The sample comprised 99 participants, predominantly female (85.9%), working in various departments, including inpatient units, hemodialysis, intensive care unit (ICU), emergency room, and others (not specified). There was a statistically significant difference between the scores before (15.29 ± 2.23) and after (16.48 ± 1.98) the educational intervention (W = -4.443; P < 0.05). Additionally, there was a statistically significant increase in adherence after the intervention concerning the correct disposal of sharps boxes (P = 0.023) and changing out of uniforms in designated areas (P = 0.034).

The obtained results demonstrated, in a pioneering manner, that the use of a multimodal educational strategy (combining different approaches such as the use of five moments, a validated video, and a question-and-answer quiz) had a positive impact on adherence by professionals who work in sectors caring for patients with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges for healthcare professionals, particularly in the field of dentistry. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in infection control measures in dentistry before and during the pandemic among Iranian dentists.

An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted from June to December 2020, and included dental healthcare professionals (DHCPs) practicing dentistry in Iran. Participants completed a web-based survey that included demographic profiles, practice-related details, and information on implemented infection control measures. Data were subjected to statistical analysis using the software SPSS v. 26, and a P-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. 

A total of 303 dentists, 200 (66%) of whom practiced specialized dentistry and 103 (34%) were general dentists, responded to the questionnaire. The majority of participating dentists (85.5%) were aware of the importance of patient screening for COVID-19 symptoms. There was a statistically significant rise in adherence to hand hygiene practices. The utilization of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves, masks, and face shields also exhibited significant increases amid the pandemic. Dentists shifted from using surgical masks to N95 respirators (p=0.05) and white coats to disposable gowns (p<0.001). We noted a significantly greater tendency towards adopting air ventilation systems, surface disinfection and prescribing preprocedural mouth rinses among DHCPs.

The study findings indicate increased compliance with infection control protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic among Iranian DHCPs and highlight the modifications made to infection control measures in dentistry.

Breach awareness in relation to types, mitigation, and reporting should be a routine part of infection prevention training. Understanding breaches can reduce the risk of disease transmission to staff and communities when contextualized to the infectious disease, environment, and situation. At a large-scale Australian COVID-19 quarantine facility, this study examined the core personal protective equipment and infection prevention breaches new quarantine workers identified during their site orientation to inform future breach training.

Methods & Materials: 

Through the application of a qualitative approach, the project implemented a descriptive thematic analysis to identify the different types of breaches staff presented. An additional summative content analysis method was applied to determine if the breaches staff identified were breaching and if the risk level staff allocated to the breach was mapped to the risk of disease transmission. Data were collected from 30 orientation sessions and included 603 breach risk responses for analysis.

There were five core breach areas identified: donning and doffing of personal protective equipment, failure of personal protective equipment or lack of equipment, environmental factors, staff behaviors, and resident behaviors. The breach allocations by staff demonstrated knowledge deficits across health and non-health staff in disease transmission, particularly in the actual level of risk for transmission.

 Breaches awareness in relation to types, mitigation, and reporting should be a routine part of infection prevention training. The five areas of breaches present an adaptable foundation to base infection prevention breach training for any health facility. When contextualized to the communicable disease, environment, and situation, understanding breaches can reduce the risk of disease transmission to staff and communities.

This study aimed to design and evaluate the cooling power of local cooling coats for the head, neck, ankles, and wrists.

Local cooling coatings were designed using Iranians workers’ existing 50th anthropometric percentile data. After immersing the cooling coats in water for 5 minutes, they were placed in a chamber at 30°C, 35°C, and 40°C and 30% and 60% humidity and 0.2‑0.4 m/s air velocity for 120 minutes. The amount of water evaporation was measured by weighing each coat before and after entering the chamber, and then the cooling power of each coat was calculated based on the amount of water evaporation.

The average cooling power of cooling coats with covering areas (two wrists 933.75 cm2 , two ankles 1467.37 cm2 and head and neck 1270 cm2 ) that the total area of the cover is 3671.12 cm2 , i.e., about 20% of the body at 30% relative humidity in 30°C, 35°C and 40°C was 67, 77 and 89 watts, respectively. At the mentioned temperature and in 60% relative humidity, the cooling power was 34, 40, and 55 watts. As the relative humidity increased, the cooling power of the coats decreased.

Local evaporative cooling coat on the head, neck, wrists, and ankles can reasonably repel excess heat entering the body. The best performance of these coats is in hot and dry environments. Probably, if used in conjunction with cooling vests in environments with high temperatures and heavy activity, it can act as a supplement to cooling vests and have a significant effect on improving functions.

Recently published researches show that 59% of all transmission came from asymptomatic transmission and at the time of diagnosis health‑care workers (HCWs) tend to present without respiratory symptoms. These evidences have raised questions on whether an essential policy for use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is the best approach in HCW and other people or not. Therefore, this study conducted to investigate the effectiveness of using face masks and PPE in reducing the spread of COVID‑19 in health‑care and non‑health‑care settings. This systematic review and meta‑analysis study was prepared according to the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta‑analysis statement and guided by meta‑analysis of observational studies recommendations. Searches in databases were conducted from December 2019 to July 2021. Random‑effects meta‑analysis was performed to investigate the effect of using face masks and PPE on spread of COVID‑19. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed using Cochran’s Q test and the I2 metrics. In total, 9920 individuals from 14 studies were included in this study. In all settings, application of PPE or any type of masks was associated with reduction in risk of COVID‑19 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]: [0.29, 0.65]; I 2 = 85.21%). In the HCW subgroup, the protective effect had a combined OR of 0.33 (95% CI: (0.15,0.73), I2 = 82.61%). Six studies were found protective effects of wearing mask in non‑HCWs (OR = 0.58, 95% CI: (0.31, 1.06), I2 = 85.63%). Results suggest that there is association between face mask/PPE use and reduction of COVID‑19.

 To investigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the patients’ attendance/distribution patterns within different departments and the perception of the dental team providing dental services during the COVID-19 outbreak in a private dental clinic. Moreover, the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on dental professionals next to the role of personal protective equipment in the prevention of infection in the corresponding teams was simultaneously investigated.

A clinic located in the northern part of Tehran was selected. Forty-four dentists with 48 staff members were involved in treatment teams. Preventive strategies, i.e., personnel/operator/patient management comprising full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), high–volume evacuation suctions, primary screening questions, pulse oximetry, the patient’s body temperature measurement as well as administrative controls, e.g. disinfection of surfaces and using stairs instead of lifts, were implemented to manage the prevalence of disease and analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the distribution/attendance patterns of patients. 

 During 6 months, a 26% reduction in the number of patients was observed after the pandemic; however, men’s and women’s distributions were not affected. The department of orthodontics reported a 6% increase in new cases whereas the department of pediatric dentistry revealed the least changes in the number of patients. In the departments of operative dentistry, prosthodontics, oral/maxillofacial surgery, and periodontics, the number of patients was reduced by 10-30%. In addition, three dentists and four staff members were affected by COVID-19 during the mentioned period.

 It seems that the potential for COVID-19 transmission in dental clinics is relatively low.

Assessing and improving infection prevention and control (IPC) knowledge and practicing skills among medical students who are the future medical practitioners is crucial for reducing the burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). In this study, we assessed the IPC knowledge of undergraduate clinical-year medical students before and after interventional IPC modular training and evaluated the effectiveness and students’perception on structured modular IPC training presented to them.

This cross-sectional interventional study was conducted on single medical cohort comprising of 145 final-yearundergraduate medical students of the academic year 2022-23 at COMHS. Pre-test, post-test, and feedback questionnaire were used as the assessing tools. The data were collected, entered into Excel sheet, and analyzed using SPSS software version 22. McNemar and Paired-T tests were carried out, and a P-value<0.05 was considered significant. Feedback of the questionnaire was analyzed using 3 Point Likert Scale as agree, neutral, and disagree.

Overall, mean IPC knowledge scores after training (37.65±1.37) was significantly higher as compared to beforetraining (25.13±4.51). Prior knowledge scores on certain aspects of IPC such as duration of hand washing, steps of hand washing, sequence of donning and doffing of PPE, use of N95 mask, and appropriate sharp and needle precautions, and biomedical waste management were varied from 13.6% to 65.6%. However, overall participants’ knowledge (P<0.001) on these aspects increased significantly after the training. The majority of the participants (>90%) perceived IPC training as an excellent tool to improve IPC knowledge and practicing skills.

IPC training had a significant impact in gaining adequate IPC knowledge and practicing skills among ourparticipants. Therefore, it is recommended that IPC training should be implemented in the undergraduate medical curriculum with greater emphasis on practicing skills.

Due to the important role of police during COVID-19 pandemics and lack of previous studies on the impact of personal protective equipment (PPE) in reduction of COVID-19 infection among police officers, we aimed to investigate the role of using PPE in prevention of COVID-19 infection among Iranian police personnel. 

This cross-sectional survey was conducted in Tehran, Iran during January 2021 to November 2022. The study sample consisted of police personnel who were active in field operations. Demographics (age, height, weight, gender, marital status, number of children and underlying diseases) and job characteristics such as frequency and type of operations, involvement of colleagues with COVID-19, and COVID-19 infection history, using PPE, types of used PPE (mask, face shield, gloves, etc), protective strategies (such as social distancing) and COVID-19 vaccination were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25. 

Totally, 340 participants were analyzed (33.54±9.74 years old, 91.2% males), of whom, 150 participants (44.1%) reported at least one episode of confirmed COVID-19 infection. The most common component of PPE used both during operations and daily life was face mask (44.7% and 75%, respectively). The most popular measure with higher adherence compared to others was social distancing with 70% popularity and an adherence score of 5.85±3.74. Three hundred subjects (88.2%) had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Among PPE items, using face mask, washing hands with soap, social distancing and vaccination were significantly different between patients with and without prior COVID-19 infection (p>0.05). 

The findings showed that use of PPE is significantly efficacious in reduction of COVID-19 infection among police officers. Therefore, despite difficulties of using PPE among police forces, it is strongly recommended for virus spread control in this population.

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced some negative environmental issues, especially in the waste management sector. In developing countries, handling waste is carried out by two groups: waste workers and waste pickers who are exposed to possible hazards of infected waste. In the present narrative review, we searched for high-quality English publications in PubMed, Scopus, and Embase databases. The COVID-19 pandemic led to several problems in waste management systems, especially in developing countries. Due to poor management systems, waste workers and pickers are likely exposed to health risks related to unhealthy waste handling. The support of governments is urgently required to properly inform ordinary people about the correct ways of disposing of PPE and also train sanitation workers and waste pickers to reduce the hazardous possibilities. Additionally, financial support can also act as a suppressive agent to reduce the number of waste pickers.

The safety of health?care workers (HCWs) during the COVID?19 pandemic is a major concern worldwide. Dermatologicalroblems due to personal protective equipment are annoying issues. We aimed to evaluate dermatological adverse events following the use of these protections in HCWs managing COVID?19 patients.

One hundred and fifty?six workers managing COVID?19 patients were enrolled in this cross?sectional study. We conducted face?to?face interviews to collect the data and focused mainly on protection type and mucocutaneous symptoms with new onset or exaggeration after this equipment.

Dermatological problems following protective equipment usage occurred mainly during the 1st week (65.4%). The most common site of skin involvement was the nose (82.7%) and the most frequent visible complaints were the pressure effect and erythema on the nose in 80.8% and 57.7% of cases, respectively. There was a significant association between mask type and facial skin problems (P < 0.001). The main symptoms were itching (21.8% scalp, 39.1% face and body) and burning sensation (14.1% scalp, 23.7% face and body). Skin esquamation (37.2%) and dorsal hand dermatitis (41.66%) were significantly more frequent in atopic participants (P = 0.02 and P = 0.01, respectively). Hand involvement was significantly associated with frequency of hand washing (odds ratio = 1.97, 95% confidence interval = 1.04–3.74, P = 0.03).

We found that skin problems related to protective equipment were common and frequently located on the face mainly due to facial masks. These complications should be prevented by  roper use of this equipment.

Healthcare workers’ work performance is an important issue affected by the clinical work environment and equipment. The present study aims to predict healthcare workers’ work performance based on safety-ergonomic features of hands and medical gloves.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on healthcare workers at the hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran, 2021. Using convenience sampling, 720 healthcare workers were selected. The Patterson’s Work Performance Questionnaire and the Medical Gloves Assessment Tool were used to collect the required data on work performance and safety-ergonomic features of medical gloves, respectively.

The work performance score was 40% of the maximum achievable score, and the total score of medical gloves was almost half of the ideal state (50.52%). In addition, there was a significant relationship between work performance and safety-ergonomic features of medical gloves (correlation coefficient = 0.868). The overall regression model showed that safety-ergonomic features of medical gloves could predict the healthcare workers’ work performance (P = 0.001). Accordingly, tactile sensation, dexterity, fitting, reliability, and hand hygiene could predict work performance (P < 0.05), while grip strength alone could not do as such. Besides, fitting was the factor that affected work performance the most (Beta = 0.368).

In general, the results of this study showed that safety-ergonomic features of safety gloves could predict the healthcare workers’ work performance. In addition, improving safety-ergonomic aspects of personal protective equipment, including medical gloves, might help enhance the quality of healthcare workers’ performance.

Nursing home (NH) residents accounted for half of the deaths during the 2020 spring wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in France. Our objective was to identify structural and managerial factors associated with COVID-19 outbreaks in NHs.

We conducted in July 2020 a retrospective study by questionnaire addressed to NH directors in the Brittany region of France. The questions related to structural characteristics of the establishment, human resources, and crisis management decisions. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 among residents between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. The secondary endpoint was total mortality during this period. We used multivariate regressions to identify factors associated with these outcomes.

Responses were collected from 231 NHs hosting 20,881 residents, representing a participation rate of 47%. In 24 (10%) NHs, at least one resident presented confirmed COVID-19. NHs often implemented stringent protective measures, with 65% of them choosing to confine residents to their rooms. In multivariate analysis, factors associated with a reduced risk of case occurrence were in-room meal service, early ban of family visits, and daily access to an outdoor space. No association was found between mortality and the factors studied. Our results show an early and strict implementation of lockdown measures, with good epidemiological results in a context of shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and non-vaccination. Nevertheless, it raises ethical questions concerning respect of residents’ wellbeing and rights.

Cessation of communal dining seems to be the main measure likely to be effective in preventive terms. It does not seem that room lockdown and cessation of group activities should be recommended, particularly if mask wearing is possible