Ineffective Use of PPE by Hospital Staff

Ineffective Use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) by Hospital Staff
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Ineffective Use of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) by Hospital Staff
The problem of the change proposal
The problem of the change proposal will be based on the reduction of COVID-19 infections among hospital staff while providing care to coronavirus-infected patients. While personal protective equipment (PPE) has been effective in reducing the spread of the pandemic, cases of new infections are on the rise in part due to the ineffective PPEs among health care workers (Liu et al., 2020). The virus can spread from infected patients to hospital staff or from health care workers to patients through respiratory droplets and direct contacts (Wong et al., 2020). The PICOT question for this proposal will be: Among hospital staff (P), how does ineffective use of personal protective equipment (PPEs) (I), compared to their proper use (C) increase chances of COVID-19 infections in the hospital setting when interacting with coronavirus-infected patients (T)?
Setting/context in which the problem is observed
The present problem is common among hospital staff working directly with COVID-19 patients. Since the disease spreads quickly through direct contact and respiratory droplets, effective use of PPEs can greatly reduce the cases of new infections in hospital settings. During the early stages of the pandemic, healthcare systems in Hubei, China, and other states in the world were overwhelmed (Liu et al., 2020). Ineffective use of PPEs escalated the problem and there were increased numbers of infections in many states around the world. The problem of healthcare-acquired infections (HCAIs) mostly occurs to both patients and health care workers after 48 hours or 30 days (Haque et al., 2018). In Hong Kong, early coronavirus infection prevention strategies in public hospitals included contact, airborne, and droplet precautions as a way to limit nosocomial or HCAIs (Wong et al., 2020).
Description of the problem
Effective use of PPEs minimizes HCAIs, human resources, and financial losses across many industries such as health care (Balkhyour et al., 2019). However, re-emerging diseases and pandemics continue to pressure health care systems around the world in terms of preparing for effective patient care and logistics that need enhanced PPEs for health care workers (Loibner et al., 2019). Garrigou et al (2019) have cited that the availability, cost, and general discomfort may make the directives to use PPEs inapplicable. This poses a challenge to the manufacturers of PPEs to improve in their ergonomic design of the equipment. On the other hand, the effectiveness of the use of PPEs in the prevention of COVID-19 transmission and the levels of discomfort and dexterity has been questioned when comparing coveralls and gowns or single and double gloves (Hersi et al. 2015). Therefore, this proposal seeks to encourage the effective use of PPEs in hospital settings to prevent coronavi...