Articles: personal-protective-equipment.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Using interactive computer simulation for teaching the proper use of personal protective equipment.
The use of personal protective equipment is one of the basic infection control precautions in health care. The effectiveness of personal protective equipment is highly dependent on adequate staff training. In this project, a computer simulation program, as a supplement to conventional training approaches, was developed to facilitate the learning of the proper use of personal protective equipment. ⋯ Fifty healthcare workers were randomly assigned into two groups: one received conventional personal protective equipment training only (control group), whereas the other also received the same conventional training but followed by using the developed simulation program for self-learning (experimental group). Their performance was assessed by personal protective equipment donning and doffing evaluation before and after the training. The results showed that the computer simulation program is able to improve the healthcare workers' understanding and competence in using personal protective equipment.
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Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am. · Feb 2015
ReviewChecklists for Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness.
Preparation for, and response to, hazardous materials emergencies requires both preplanning and just-in-time information management. The development of an emergency operations plan and a hazardous materials incident response plan involves many steps and implicates numerous resources: institutional, governmental, and private. ⋯ The availability of resources, human and informatics, as well as the means for accessing them, inevitably changes over time. The reader is advised to update all links and telephone numbers on a regularly scheduled basis.
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Viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are a range of viral infections with potential to cause life-threatening illness in humans. Apart from Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), they are largely confined to Africa, distribution being dependent on the ecology of reservoir hosts. At present, the largest ever epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD or Ebola) is occurring in West Africa, raising the possibility that cases could be imported into non-endemic countries. Diagnosis and management is challenging due to the non-specificity of early symptoms, limited laboratory facilities in endemic areas, severity of disease, lack of effective therapy, strict infection control requirements and propensity to cause epidemics with secondary cases in healthcare workers.
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J Occup Environ Hyg · Jan 2015
Volatile Organic Compounds Off-gassing from Firefighters' Personal Protective Equipment Ensembles after Use.
Firefighters' personal protective equipment (PPE) ensembles will become contaminated with various compounds during firefighting. Some of these compounds will off-gas following a response, which could result in inhalation exposure. This study was conducted to determine the magnitude and composition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) generated during controlled structure burns that subsequently off-gassed from the firefighters' PPE, and were systemically absorbed and exhaled in firefighters' breath. ⋯ Air concentrations of BTEXS measured off-gassing from firefighters' used PPE and in firefighters' post-burn exhaled breath were significantly correlated. The firefighters may have absorbed BTEXS through both the dermal route (during firefighting) and inhalation route (from off-gassing PPE after firefighting). Firefighters should be made aware of the potential for inhalation exposure when doffing and traveling in confined vehicles with contaminated PPE and take measures to minimize this exposure pathway.