Personal Protective Equipment

For those working in healthcare, the relationship with the supply chain department was an increasingly important one. Between daily mask utilization and supply reporting to scrambling to find more supplies, those working in healthcare supply chains were working exceedingly hard to keep our heads above water. 

“It’s very terrifying to be flying the plane at the same time you’re building it,” said one young doctor.

The machine can decontaminate the same respirator mask up to 20 times without degrading the mask’s performance.

Ninety-seven percent of survey respondents have implemented conservation protocols for personal protective equipment.

The Defense Production Act gives the federal government broad authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of national defense.

What happened to 11 healthcare workers who, without proper PPE, treated patients confirmed to have COVID-19. Answer? Nothing. That is, they did not contract the disease.

National Nurses United wants hospitals to establish protocols in which nurses are immediately notified when a patient who might have COVID-19 is admitted.

Thanks to a reduction of imported PPE, 36% of hospital respondents expect large-scale PPE shortages, while 54% have imposed PPE conservation protocols.

WHO's Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, warns: “We can’t stop COVID-19 without protecting our health workers.” 

The whistleblower alleges that she was unfairly and improperly reassigned after voicing her concerns about the safety of HHS workers.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, notes that this is the first time that China has included numbers of healthcare workers infected in the data it has provided on the spread of the epidemic.

Proper PPE for the Wuhan coronavirus includes powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs), an N95 mask, eye protection, gloves, and gown.

Siyang HolyMed in China, the vendor used by Cardinal Health to make the gowns, did so at 2 unapproved sites where the gowns were exposed to air particulate and other contaminants. Employees also ate in the production area.

Although the odds of another patient with EVD walking into your emergency department are slim, wouldn’t you rather be prepared?

Serious geopolitical and social forces are converging to create the conditions, on a scale unique in history, for a major respiratory pandemic. Prioritizing the protection of healthcare workers will be key to containing such a pandemic.