Adherence to Personal Protective Equipment Guidelines During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Health Care Personnel in the United States.

OBJECTIVES

Protecting frontline health care workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Through an online survey, we demonstrated variable adherence to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) PPE guidelines among health care personnel (HCP).

METHODS

CDC guidelines for optimal and acceptable PPE usage in common situations faced by frontline health care workers were referenced to create a short online survey. The survey was distributed to national, statewide, and local professional organizations across the United States and to HCP, using a snowball sampling technique. Responses were collected between June 15 and July 17, 2020.

RESULTS

Responses totaling 2245 were received from doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, and medical technicians in 44 states. Eight states with n > 20 (Arizona, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington) and a total of 436 responses are included in the quantitative analysis. Adherence to CDC guidelines was observed to be highest in the scenario of patient contact when COVID-19 was not suspected (86.47%) and lowest when carrying out aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) (42.47%).

CONCLUSIONS

Further research is urgently needed to identify the reasons underlying variability between professions and regions to pinpoint strategies for maximizing adherence and improving the safety of HCPs.