Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Precautions
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
- PPE is used to protect ourselves and our residents from infection.
Types of PPE:
- Gown
- Mask/N95
- Gloves
- Goggles/Face Shield
Precautions & PPE
- Signs on the Door: Alerting staff and visitors to necessary precautions.
- Hand Hygiene: Clean hands before entering and when leaving the room, according to Standard Precautions.
- Gloves:
- Don gloves upon entry into the room or cubicle.
- Wear gloves when touching the patient and surfaces in close proximity to the patient.
- Remove gloves before exiting the patient room.
- Gowns:
- Don gown upon entry into the room.
- Remove gown and observe hand hygiene before exiting the patient-care environment.
- Patient Transport:
- Limit transport of patients to medically necessary purposes.
- Ensure that infected or colonized areas of the patient's body are contained and covered.
- Remove and dispose of contaminated PPE and perform hand hygiene prior to transporting patients on Contact Precautions.
- Don clean PPE to handle the patient at the transport destination.
- Patient-Care Equipment: Use disposable or patient-dedicated equipment or implement disinfection protocols.
Enhanced Barrier Precautions
- Hand Hygiene: Clean hands before entering and when leaving the room.
- Providers and Staff:
- Wear gloves and a gown for High-Contact Resident Care Activities, including:
- Dressing
- Bathing/Showering
- Transferring
- Changing Linens
- Providing Hygiene
- Changing brief or assisting with toileting
- Device care (central line, urinary catheter, feeding tube)
- Wound Care (any skin opening requiring a dressing)
- Do not wear the same gown and gloves for the care of more than one person.
Droplet Precautions
- Mask: Ensure eyes, nose, and mouth are fully covered before room entry.
- Remove face protection: before room exit.
Potentially Infectious Material (PIM)
- Blood
- Urine
- Bowel movement
- Other secretions
- "Assume everyone is infectious"
Universal Precautions
- Wear gloves when providing care for which you may come in contact with PIM.
- Wearing gloves at all times can make people feel “diseased.”
- Bacteria
- Viruses
- Parasites
- Any infectious agent that would be carried on our clothing or skin.
- Examples:
Droplet Precautions
- Mask
- Gloves
- Gown
- Examples:
- Portal of Exit: Mouth/Nose
- Method of Transmission: Sneezing/Coughing
Airborne Precautions
- Differ from Droplet
- These diseases can be life threatening for immunocompromised residents & hard to combat as it lives in the AIR we breathe.
- Examples:
- Tuberculosis
- Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
- Immunocompromised: Lowered immunity due to illness, cancer, etc. More easy to become sick.
- PPE:
- Isolate if possible
Airborne - Isolation
- Can we force a resident with an airborne illness to stay in their room? NO!
- How to protect others?
- We cannot restrain a resident to their room…. However, we can…ENCOURAGE
- Note: it is not in the CNA scope of practice to “educate” the resident
Bloodborne Precautions
- HIV/AIDS/Hep-B/Hep-C
- Goggles/Face Shield
- Gown
- Gloves
- Mask
- Hep: Hepatitis
Order of Operations - Placing PPE
- Gown → Mask → Gloves
- Think of the goal - To keep “clean” from touching “dirty”
- Dirty: Front of scrubs, Mouth/Ears
- Clean: Fresh Gloves, Outside of Gown
- To prevent cross-contamination
- Do you want to touch your clean gloves to your face on accident when placing a mask?
- Gown on/off first ALWAYS
- crosscontamination: bacteria is accidentally transferred to a clean surface/body
Order of Operations - Removing PPE
- Gown → Gloves → Mask
- Clean: Inside of gown, Bare hands, Behind head
- Dirty: Outside of gown, Gloves, Mask
- Think: What do we get on our PPE during cares?
Disposing of PPE
- You should NEVER wear gloves in the hall.
- Biohazardous Waste:
- Bio: Life
- Hazardous: May cause harm
- PPE should be placed in a RED biohazard container BEFORE leaving the room.