Personal protective equipment PPE gowns are the perfect solution for infectious disease exposure. This specialized clothing is highly effective for preventing contact with hazardous substances. PPE gowns are commonly used for infection control and prevention measures and help to protect health workers from infected blood, body fluids, and other infectious substances.
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| Role Of PPE Gowns In Effective Infection Control And Prevention |
A PPE kit functions like a physical barrier that not only includes gowns but also has gloves, face masks, and eyewear to protect your hands, eyes, nose, skin, and mouth from contagious viruses.
In healthcare facilities, It is mandatory to use a PPE kit and also necessary to provide the proper guidance on storing and maintaining it in good working order. This practice is important for the safety of both patients and healthcare workers.
Therefore, you may need to train your workers to use PPE appropriately to protect skin and clothing to reduce the transmission of deadly diseases and control the infection that may cause serious illness.
In some working spaces, employees usually wear their ordinary uniforms, pants, and eyewear protective equipment. However, these protective gears may be unsuitable or ineffective in protecting from exposure to some severe infectious illnesses and diseases.
How important are PPE gowns for infection control?
When providing patient care, the main objective of PPE is to protect you from deadly pathogens and other infectious components that can make you sick. Moreover, PPE gowns highly impact the safety of patients and provide them with a hygienic environment.
So, it is important you wear suitable quality PPE gowns with gloves, eyewear, face masks, shoe and beard covers, and bouffants for complete protection. You must know the proper technique and order of wearing and removing PPE because if you neglect the accurate process of wearing and removing PPE, the infectious agents can rapidly spread among health workers and your entire workplace.
Undoubtedly, PPE is crucial to controlling infection and preventing diseases, but it cannot be considered an ideal solution. Apart from COVID-19 supply issues, PPE has many restrictions, including problems in determining a suitable fit.
If you wear PPE incorrectly to perform clinical duties, your difficulty level may increase. Moreover, improper PPE removal and disposal may cause various challenges for you and your colleagues. That’s why your healthcare facility must provide PPE in various sizes to suit all the employees.
List of necessary personal protective equipment:
PPE gowns:
You can use PPE or isolation gowns to protect your clothes and arms from infectious agents. These gowns are a standard part of the protection and precaution plan that helps you to control the contagious disease. These gowns are fluid-resistant, so as per the standard precautions, if you are working in a clinical area where splashes or sprays of blood/body fluids are expected, you must wear PPE gowns.
On the other hand, when you provide care to patients and directly contact them, you must wear gowns for your and your patient's safety. You can wear gowns with gloves and other PPE for overall protection.
Gloves:
You may require clean and disposable gloves with a gown during exposure to blood/body fluids or any infectious material that can be hazardous to your health. You must avoid touching the patient without gloves as per the safety precautions.
These gloves are available in skin-friendly nitrile materials. They provide greater barrier protection during direct patient contact and other patient care tasks. After use, you must remove the gloves properly and wash your hands immediately.
Face masks:
Face or surgical masks are commonly used to protect the mouth and nose. These face masks are designed with ear loops or ties to fit on your face and also can be pleated or made of molded material. You must wear these masks to a place of coughing patients and to prevent yourself from splashes or sprays of blood/body fluids. This way, you can reduce the spread of respiratory secretions and infections.
Eyewear:
Eyewear and face shields are another part of PPE that protect eyes from splashes or sprays of blood/body fluids. These tools perfectly wrap around your face to protect you from all angles.
Shoe cover PPE:
As a healthcare worker, you must protect your shoes from infectious elements and reduce the spread of contaminants around your medical facility. These one-time-use shoe covers are easy to put on and take off.
Final Verdict;
PPE gowns, eyewear, and gloves are essential to a healthcare or drug manufacturing facility in controlling infectious agents. Ensure workers understand PPE's purpose, select suitable gear, and use it effectively. You can minimize mishaps in these facilities to safeguard other employees and establish their commitment to safety by investing in a comprehensive range of PPE.
