References
Personal protective equipment: knowledge of the guidance
Abstract
Background:
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. The unpredictable nature of transmission of COVID-19 requires a meticulous understanding of guidance on personal protective equipment (PPE) as published by WHO and Public Health England (PHE).
Aim:
To assess perceived confidence and knowledge of PHE guidance relating to PPE by nursing staff.
Methods:
A nationwide survey was disseminated between May and June 2020 through social media platforms as well as internal mail via regulatory bodies and individual hospital trusts.
Results:
Data were collated from 339 nurses. Perceived confidence as measured on a Likert scale was a mode score of 3/5, with the average score for knowledge-based questions being 5/10. Of the respondents, 47% cited insufficient training on PPE guidance, and 84% advocated further training. Conclusions: Unifying published PPE guidance and ensuring consistency in training can improve awareness, confidence, and knowledge among nursing staff.
The end of 2019 brought the spread of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. The novel coronavirus pneumonia was later named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and the virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), by the World Health Organization (WHO) (WHO, 2020a; 2020b). Following alarming levels of spread and severity, on 11 March 2020, COVID-19 was classed as a global pandemic by WHO. As of 12 December 2020, according to John Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, there are over 71.4 million confirmed cases worldwide spanning 191 countries and regions, with over 1.6 million confirmed deaths. At time of writing, there were in excess of 1.8 million confirmed cases and 64 000 deaths in the UK (John Hopkins University, 2020).
Despite a spectrum in presentation, the principal symptoms of COVID-19 include anosmia, a dry continuous cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and pyrexia (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). Human transmission occurs through aerosols, respiratory secretions, and contaminated surfaces (Del Rio and Malani, 2020). Droplet transmission may occur at short distances through mucosal or conjunctival contact (WHO, 2020c). It has been well documented within the literature that aerosolisation of the virus is associated with increased transmission to and morbidity in healthcare staff (Tran et al, 2012).
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