Abstract
Healthcare workers (HCWs) had to work with a lack of PPE at the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic in a diversity of worldwide healthcare systems, exposing them to a high risk of infection. This chapter illustrates HCWs experiences of “protecting” and “feeling protected” in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, The Gambia, India, Senegal, Spain, United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). Our results demonstrate difficulties in the stock of PPE, how PPE were distributed among HCWs, how PPE often had to be reused (due to insufficient stock) and the impact of the lack of PPE in the delivery of care. On many occasions HCWs did not feel adequately protected during the first months of the pandemic because health systems largely did not provide sufficient quality and quantity of protective equipment during the pandemic. Analysis of HCWs’ experiences of protecting and feeling protected whilst delivering care during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight important issues to consider for future infectious disease outbreaks. Study results clearly outline the similarities and differences experienced by healthcare systems in a globalised world where many countries, simultaneously, experienced an exponential increase in demands with regard to PPE.
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- 1.
A surgical N95 respirator is a NIOSH (The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) approved respirator that has also been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a surgical mask (CDC 2020). FFP2 is a face mask that has a filtering capacity of at least 94% for 0.3 μm particles (ECDC 2021). An N95/N99 respirator is the United States’ equivalent of FFP2/FFP3 respirators as defined by US standard NIOSH (ECDC 2021).
- 2.
« Epidemiological Treatment Centers », these centres are responsible for the management of COVID cases in Senegal and Burkina Faso.
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Romeu-Labayen, M. et al. (2022). Protecting and Feeling Protected: HCWs’ Experiences with Personal Protective Equipment During the COVID-19 Pandemic (PPE). In: Vindrola-Padros, C., Johnson, G.A. (eds) Caring on the Frontline during COVID-19. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6486-1_4
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