Building a personal protective equipment monitor team as part of a comprehensive COVID-19 prevention strategy

Shelley Summerlin-Long; Amy Selimos; Brooke Brewer; Mark Buchanan; Christa Clark; Karen Croyle; Cynthia Culbreth; Pamela Del Monte; Lauren M DiBiase; Lori Hendrickson; Pam Miller; Natalie Schnell; Katherine Schultz; Lisa Stancill; Lisa Teal; Emily Sickbert-Bennett; David J Weber

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2021.08.009

Building a personal protective equipment monitor team as part of a comprehensive COVID-19 prevention strategy

Am J Infect Control. 2021 Nov;49(11):1443-1444. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2021.08.009. Epub 2021 Aug 18.

Authors

Shelley Summerlin-Long¹, Amy Selimos², Brooke Brewer², Mark Buchanan², Christa Clark², Karen Croyle², Cynthia Culbreth², Pamela Del Monte², Lauren M DiBiase³, Lori Hendrickson², Pam Miller², Natalie Schnell², Katherine Schultz², Lisa Stancill², Lisa Teal², Emily Sickbert-Bennett³, David J Weber⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Infection Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Infection Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
³ Department of Infection Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; University of North Carolina School of Public Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
⁴ Department of Infection Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Abstract

We instituted Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Monitors as part of our care of COVID-19 patients in high-risk zones. PPE Monitors aided health care personnel (HCP) in donning and doffing, which contributed to nearly zero transmission of COVID-19 to HCP, despite their care of over 1400 COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: Doffing; Donning; Employee safety; Infection prevention; PPE monitor; SARS-CoV-2.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Health Personnel
Humans
Infection Control
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
Personal Protective Equipment*
SARS-CoV-2