PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) STEWARDSHIP: PROMOTING EFFICIENCY AND INCREASING COMPLIANCE

ABSTRACT

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM/QUESTION Personal protective equipment (PPE) has allowed medical students to return to the hospital to continue their clinical responsabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, however problems with use remain. Throughout the pandemic, stewardship of personal protective equipment has been an immense challenge. Multiple surveys have shown that less than 40% of healthcare providers wore all mandatory PPE during a patient encounter. One potential explanation for challenges in compliance, is that no standardized practices exist for keeping track of an individual's PPE during the work day. As a result, resources can be lost or mixed up between individuals, ultimately increasing exposure risks and decreasing compliance with hospital PPE use guidelines. In response, this study sought to design two innovative and inexpensive solutions to promote the effective use of masks and safety glasses in compliance with hospital guidelines. The aim was to determine if providing stewardship devices would increase compliance. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM/INTERVENTION Seventy-eight medical students in their third and fourth year clinical rotations at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai participated in the study. The study lasted three weeks. Each intervention week, participants were provided with a new set of PPE stewardshp devices. Device one was a disposable eye protection lanyard. Device two was a breathable and water-dissolvable PPE pocket storage device that could be attached to a hospital gown. MEASURES OF SUCCESS To monitor whether the devices increased PPE compliance, participants were administered a pre-survey consisting of 21 questions. Three identical surveys were administered each subsequent intervention week, to assess effectiveness of the devices on PPE compliance. The surveys used a likert scale model to measure whether students' PPE use and ease of use and availability differed pre- and post-intervention. FINDINGS TO DATE These interventions helped students better adhere to hospital PPE guidelines- 75% for lanyard wearers and 44% for PPE pocket users. Our results further showed 86% of participants reported that PPE was more accessible when provided with lanyards. The attachable pocket similarly increased PPE compliance, however there was a high attrition rate with its usage. KEY LESSONS FOR DISSEMINATION PPE has served as an incredibly effective tool for limiting the spread of COVID-19. These results suggest that providing medical students with a PPE lanyard device can increase the compliance of eye protection use.