Through their eyes: Health care worker compliance with personal protective equipment during the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background: Personal protective equipment (PPE) plays a critical role in protecting health care workers (HCWs). During the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, shortages of PPE supplies drastically changed the way PPE was obtained and used by HCWs. Purpose: The objective was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and patient isolation type on PPE compliance. Methods: This investigation was a survey of HCWs at a level 1 trauma teaching hospital regarding PPE compliance patterns prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: HCWs reported an increase in PPE compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly half (48.6%) of respondents reported that isolation type impacted the decision to wear PPE, of which most were likely to forgo PPE with contact precautions. Conclusions: HCWs identified multiple barriers to compliance. The underutilization of PPE with contact precautions suggests that the risk of exposure is interpreted as low, and this could be a future target of education.