COVID-19 pandemic and personal protective equipment: Evaluation of equipment comfort and user attitude

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the comfort of personal protective equipment (PPE) used during the COVID-19 and attitudes of healthcare professionals regarding the use of PPE. Descriptive research was conducted with 553 healthcare professionals, who work in pandemic centers in Turkey. Findings showed that all participants used masks, 99.3% wore gloves, 89% wore protective glasses, and 89% wore aprons during the COVID-19. The most-reported physical complaints have been dryness, irritation, and wound on the hands. Age and gender, as well as PPE discomfort, has been determined to affect the use of PPE. It might be concluded that age and sex, as well as the discomfort caused by PPE, affected the use of PPE and the attitudes of healthcare professionals.

Keywords:

• Healthcare personnel
• personal protective equipment
• personnel attitude
• personnel comfort

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the healthcare professionals who participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.