The Infection Control Today® personal protective equipment page offers written and video content on the proper use and—during the time of COVID-19 surges—reuse of PPE, including masks, respirators, gloves, gowns, face shields, goggles, and more. What are the proper donning and doffing methods? How long can PPE be extended? How are these items decontaminated? What comprises proper fit testing? Our experts will tell you.
July 7th 2025
Patients rarely question sterilization protocols at the dentist, yet it is essential for safety. The Clean Bite explores why asking matters, what to look for, and how to start the conversation confidently.
Healthcare Worker Protection-The Key to Surviving The Next Respiratory Outbreak
November 1st 2018Serious 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.
Copper-Coated Uniforms Could Help Reduce Infection Transmission
February 15th 2018Material scientists at the University of Manchester, working in collaboration with universities in China, have created a 'durable and washable, concrete-like' composite material made from antibacterial copper nanoparticles.
Researchers Create World's First Self-Donning System for Surgical Gowns
May 16th 2017In the healthcare setting, there is an increasing need for a self-donning surgical gown that healthcare personnel can don without the need for any assistance. Also, in the context of crisis management for the Ebola virus and other severe infectious diseases, use of a gown that can be donned and removed quickly and safely as infection protection to prevent transmission to the environment is more important than ever.
The Changing Impact of Low PPE and Safety Device Use and Compliance in the OR
March 31st 2017The quality and vitality of the operating room is often a balance between managing patients known or suspected with infectious disease and managing potential staff occupational exposure risks associated with treating patients. With exposure risks to emerging and re-emerging microorganisms at an unparalleled high, measuring, analyzing, and preventing exposures among surgical staff is more important now than ever.
Researcher Turns Surgical Mask Into a Virus Killer
January 5th 2017A University of Alberta engineering researcher has developed a new way to treat common surgical masks so they are capable of trapping and killing airborne viruses. His research findings appear in the prestigious journal Scientific Reports, published by Nature Publishing Group.
The Role of Personal Protective Equipment in Infection Prevention History
October 17th 2016As personal protective equipment (PPE) continues to play an integral role in prevention of transmission of infection in the healthcare setting, we discover by looking back at the history of protection of healthcare workers (HCWs) and prevention of spread of infection, that the concept is several centuries old.
Using Institutional Controls to Improve PPE Compliance
August 24th 2016According to 2014 occupational incident surveillance data from nearly 30 U.S. hospitals, when an employee experiences a splash or splatter of blood or body fluid (e.g. blood or bloody urine) into the eye they are only wearing eye-appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) 3.5 percent of the time. These mucotaneous exposures are extremely high risk. Just as the eyes are the windows to the soul, they are the frontlines for risk of disease transmission from patient to worker. If we experience fatigue, allergies, irritation, or infection our eyes become even more susceptible to microorganisms that come into contact with them.