Mask Respirator

September 10, 2020

As these healthcare worker serology studies are designed and performed, we need more insight beyond just PPE use and symptoms, but also internal and external exposures.

August 26, 2020

If you see something, say something. Let coworkers know when they may have breached infection control practices such as forgetting to wash their hands, not wearing PPE properly, or missed opportunities to clean a high-touch surfaces.

August 19, 2020

Especially in healthcare settings, when infection preventionists need to explain protocols and guidelines to their fellow healthcare workers and patients, something can always be lost in translation if much of the face remains hidden.

August 19, 2020

Linda Spaulding: “We [infection preventionists] have listening sessions with staff and we talked to them about proper mask wearing 24/7. We can do a listening session and we still have people sitting there with a mask under their nose, while we’re telling them not to. You have to continuously stress this among healthcare workers, be it whatever department.”

August 17, 2020

Neck gaiters weren’t the only face coverings tested: in all 14 were analyzed, from N95s (unsurprisingly judged to be the most effective in containing COVID-19 spread) to bandanas (not much more effective then neck gaiters, according to the study).

August 13, 2020

Film healthcare workers as they don and doff N95s, show that video to participants (explaining where they got it right, and where they got it wrong), and then have the participants don and doff again with more input from trainers.

July 30, 2020

Many factors make the isolation precautions for diseases like COVID-19 more complex than typical droplet or airborne definitions.

July 28, 2020

Maureen Spencer, RN, M.Ed.: “The World Health Organization did come out and said that they support the concept that this is droplet and airborne. And what that does is it changes our approach for infection prevention.”

July 23, 2020

It will also be necessary to again train other professionals the way IPs have historically trained them about infection prevention, because a lot of the old rules had to be set aside when COVID-19 surged.

July 22, 2020

We have much work to do in terms of risk communication and awareness. This is a good example of how quickly exposures can happen in the workplace when we focus only on employee-to-customer interactions or healthcare worker-to-patient interactions.