Hospital and nursing home workers have a high risk for coming into contact with COVID-19 patients. Healthcare facilities have infection control committees that formulate infection control guidelines for the staff. Most of the hospitals require proper PPE use while having an encounter with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patient. There are more relaxed recommendations if someone is walking across a hallway. It is important to follow the recommendations by your local medical facility. 

Dr. He and Dehn both say that the recommendations for hospital and nursing home staffs are very similar to those for home healthcare workers:

• Wash your hands before and after putting on gloves.
• Avoid touching your face.
• Disinfect surfaces with approved cleaners or a bleach solution.
• Wear gowns, gloves, masks, and eye shields.
• Wash any clothes that are exposed to the virus in hot water.

“It’s important we wear full PPE, which includes gowns, gloves, full face masks, and N95 respirators, cover our hair and wear eye shields,” says Dr. He. “The virus has been shown to aerosolize and also be able to spread via our eyelashes.”

Dr. He recommends that you have someone watch you put on and take off your PPE. “Many things often get missed,” he says. “For example, I may forget to put on a hair mask, or it may not be totally covering my hair. It’s like in scuba diving. Have a buddy and have a checklist so we don’t drown.”

What tools do healthcare workers need to successfully protect themselves?

Dehn says the most important protective tools for healthcare workers are PPE and disinfectant. Dr. He agrees and adds that knowledge is also a powerful tool. 

“It’s important for care workers to have the knowledge they need to protect themselves and take it seriously,” says Dr. He. “How to don and doff PPE is a key skill that they should make sure to practice.” 

One thing the public can do to help ensure our care workers have the supplies they need is to stop stockpiling these PPE tools. Dr. He notes that these items have become very difficult to find, and that is a serious problem. “I could not, for example, buy a thermometer last week, as it seems like everyone is rushing to buy one, and I wouldn’t know if I had a fever from an exposure,” he says. “It’s critical during this time we have the protection we need.”

If a healthcare worker gets sick, what happens?

If you are an in-home caregiver, and you take care of older or vulnerable people in their homes, Dehn recommends creating a back up plan with your patient’s family. 

If you suspect that you may have a viral illness while at work, it is best to distance yourself from the patients or vulnerable people immediately and discuss with your supervisor.  

“Make sure people have contact information for someone else to call in case you can’t make it to work,” says Nurse Barb. “Do reach out to the person’s neighbors ahead of time if there is no family available.”

*Source: Single Care