The Importance Of PPE

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Personal protective equipment (PPE) in the health care setting is a crucial factor in keeping a safe environment for patients to receive care. Not only does PPE affect the health of the patients being treated, but it jeopardizes health care providers, visitors, and other patients throughout the unit. During my clinical experience at Emory University Hospital on floor 9E, I often observed patients, visitors, and health care providers failing to comply with the PPE hanging outside patient rooms. According to a study conducted in the United States, “researchers directly observed 104 doctors and nurses in performance of 12 trauma resuscitations. The results of the study indicated that full compliance was implemented in 3% of workers” (Powers, 16). …show more content…

Gloves are considered the most compliant out of all PPE, but when full mask, gown, gloves, and other forms of PPE are used at once, I was often asked by the patient and visitors, “why are you putting on all that stuff?” It is important that the patients and visitors understand the purpose of PPE implementation to increase the chances of their compliance. There are often negative views and attitudes about PPE. To the patient and their visitors, it can psychologically take a toll on them because they believe their condition is getting worse and they are perceived as contagious. I have also observed that patient visitors are not complying with PPE and may think they are exempt because they are not the health care providers. I feel that they do not understand that they, too, should be complying with PPE. Health care providers often have a negative view on PPE because it can often impair the ability to work, for example palpating a vein for an IV insertion. Despite the negativity revolving around proper PPE, there are also positive attitudes about complying. When wearing the proper PPE, it allows health care providers to do their jobs while protecting themselves and the patient. Since health care providers go to different rooms throughout their shifts, it ultimately prevents exposing others to infectious diseases, which can prevent future infection and save lives. It is important to remember that PPE is there for a reason, if it was not proven to be effective, it would not be

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