Investigation of adverse reactions in healthcare personnel working in Level 3 barrier protection PPE to treat COVID-19.
Postgrad Med J
; 97(1148): 351-354, 2021 Jun.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-607279
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The aim of our study was to investigate potential adverse reactions in healthcare professionals working in Level 3 barrier protection personal protective equipment (L3PPE) to treat patients with COVID-19. STUDY DESIGN:
By using a convenience sampling approach, 129 out of 205 randomly selected healthcare professionals from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine were invited to take part in a WeChat messaging app survey, Questionnaire Star, via a survey link. Healthcare personnel details were collected, including profession, years of professional experience and adverse reactions while wearing L3PPE. Survey results were divided by profession and years of professional experience; differences in adverse reactions were compared.RESULTS:
Among the 129 healthcare professionals surveyed, 21 (16.28%) were doctors and 108 (83.72%) were nurses. A total of 122 (94.57%) healthcare professionals experienced discomfort while wearing L3PPE to treat patients with COVID-19. The main reasons for adverse reactions and discomfort include varying degrees of adverse skin reactions, respiratory difficulties, heat stress, dizziness and nausea. Doctors had a lower incidence of rashes (χ2=4.519, p=0.034) and dizziness (χ2=4.123, p=0.042) when compared with nurses. Junior (8.5 years of experience or fewer) healthcare personnel also experienced a higher rate of heat stress when compared with senior personnel (more than 8.5 years greater) (χ2=5.228, p=0.022).CONCLUSION:
More attention should be offered to healthcare personnel wearing L3PPE to treat patients with COVID-19 because they are susceptible to developing adverse reactions.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Infection Control
/
Health Personnel
/
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
/
Personal Protective Equipment
/
COVID-19
/
Occupational Diseases
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
Postgrad Med J
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Postgradmedj-2020-137854
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