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Assessment of Healthcare Worker Protocol Deviations and Self-Contamination During Personal Protective Equipment Donning and Doffing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2017

Jennie H. Kwon ,
Carey-Ann D. Burnham ,
Kimberly A. Reske ,
Stephen Y. Liang ,
Tiffany Hink ,
Meghan A. Wallace ,
Angela Shupe ,
Sondra Seiler ,
Candice Cass  and
Victoria J. Fraser
...Show all authors
Jennie H. Kwon*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Carey-Ann D. Burnham
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Kimberly A. Reske
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Stephen Y. Liang
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Tiffany Hink
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Meghan A. Wallace
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Angela Shupe
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Sondra Seiler
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Candice Cass
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Victoria J. Fraser
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
Erik R. Dubberke
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri
*
Address correspondence to Jennie H. Kwon, DO, MSCI, 4523 Clayton Ave, Campus Box 8051 St Louis, MO 63110 (j.kwon@wustl.edu).
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate healthcare worker (HCW) risk of self-contamination when donning and doffing personal protective equipment (PPE) using fluorescence and MS2 bacteriophage.

DESIGN

Prospective pilot study.

SETTING

Tertiary-care hospital.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 36 HCWs were included in this study: 18 donned/doffed contact precaution (CP) PPE and 18 donned/doffed Ebola virus disease (EVD) PPE.

INTERVENTIONS

HCWs donned PPE according to standard protocols. Fluorescent liquid and MS2 bacteriophage were applied to HCWs. HCWs then doffed their PPE. After doffing, HCWs were scanned for fluorescence and swabbed for MS2. MS2 detection was performed using reverse transcriptase PCR. The donning and doffing processes were videotaped, and protocol deviations were recorded.

RESULTS

Overall, 27% of EVD PPE HCWs and 50% of CP PPE HCWs made ≥1 protocol deviation while donning, and 100% of EVD PPE HCWs and 67% of CP PPE HCWs made ≥1 protocol deviation while doffing (P=.02). The median number of doffing protocol deviations among EVD PPE HCWs was 4, versus 1 among CP PPE HCWs. Also, 15 EVD PPE protocol deviations were committed by doffing assistants and/or trained observers. Fluorescence was detected on 8 EVD PPE HCWs (44%) and 5 CP PPE HCWs (28%), most commonly on hands. MS2 was recovered from 2 EVD PPE HCWs (11%) and 3 CP PPE HCWs (17%).

CONCLUSIONS

Protocol deviations were common during both EVD and CP PPE doffing, and some deviations during EVD PPE doffing were committed by the HCW doffing assistant and/or the trained observer. Self-contamination was common. PPE donning/doffing are complex and deserve additional study.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:1077–1083

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 38 , Issue 9 , September 2017 , pp. 1077 - 1083
Copyright
© 2017 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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