Whole-Process Emergency Training of Personal Protective Equipment Helps Healthcare Workers Against COVID-19: Design and Effect.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To develop an emergency training program of personal protective equipment (PPE) for general healthcare workers (HCWs) who may be under the threat of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and evaluate the effect of the program. METHODS: A three-stage training program was designed. The complete clinical workflow together with infectious disease ward was simulated. To verify the effect of the program, an experimental training with pre- and post-test was conducted before large-scale training. RESULTS: Post-test scores were significantly improved when compared with the pre-test scores. Among all PPE, N95 respirator and protective coverall needed training most. Meanwhile, "proficiency level" and "mutual check & help" also needed to be strengthened as independent scoring points. CONCLUSION: This training program significantly improved the performances of participants. It may therefore be applied for general HCWs on a larger scale.