Articles: personal-protective-equipment.
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Clinical therapeutics · Nov 2015
ReviewPersonal Protective Equipment: Protecting Health Care Providers in an Ebola Outbreak.
The recent Ebola epidemic that devastated West Africa has infected and killed more health care providers than any other outbreak in the history of this virus. An improved understanding of pathogen transmission and the institution of strategies to protect health care providers against infection are needed in infectious disease outbreaks. This review connects what is known about Ebola virus transmission with personal protective equipment (PPE) designed to arrest nosocomial transmission. ⋯ Current recommendations about PPE and the donning and doffing processes are based on anecdotal experience. However, the use of non-human viruses can help provide evidence-based guidelines on both PPE and donning and doffing processes.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Feb 2015
ReviewChecklists for Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness.
Preparation for, and response to, hazardous materials emergencies requires both preplanning and just-in-time information management. The development of an emergency operations plan and a hazardous materials incident response plan involves many steps and implicates numerous resources: institutional, governmental, and private. ⋯ The availability of resources, human and informatics, as well as the means for accessing them, inevitably changes over time. The reader is advised to update all links and telephone numbers on a regularly scheduled basis.
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The present outbreak of Ebola has health care professionals seeking guidance on isolation precautions for routine care and aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs). The most recent guidelines state that during AGPs, health care professionals should wear respiratory protection at least as protective as a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-certified fit tested N95 filtering face piece respirator or higher; for example, a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR). ⋯ Training programs on proper donning and doffing of personal protective equipment and quality control systems need to be in place. Respiratory therapists are frontline during AGPs and need to be active in the decision making of the type of equipment chosen to protect them.