Personal Protective Equipment and Hand Hygiene Status in Health Care Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a major risk to Health Care Workers (HCWs), which necessitates protective strategies. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Hand Hygiene (HH) could prevent COVID-19 infections in healthcare facilities. Our study aimed to determine the level of PPE proper use among HCWs of Mashhad educational hospitals as well as their level of HH. This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1st, 2021 to January 1st, 2022 in three educational hospitals in Mashhad. A standard checklist was arranged based on the WHO guidelines and was filled out by the supervisors. Data were analyzed using SPSS v23.0. The total HCWs included in this study were 246, including 154 women. The majority of the participating staff were nurses 135 (54.9%). The most common PPE was the N95 mask (71.1%). One hundred and eighty-four people (46.3%) washed their hands through the standard method, and there was no significant difference between men and women. Also, the level of correct PPEs donning and doffing was 42.2% and 28.4%; respectively. PPE donning was not significantly different between men and women. However, we found a significant difference in doffing PPE. It became evident that HCWs paid moderate attention to PPE and HH, demanding HCWs training to prevent infectious diseases such as the COVID-19.