Acute Med Surg . Personal Protective Equipment Use by Healthcare Workers in Intensive Care Unit During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: Comparative Analysis With the PPE-SAFE Survey

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Acute Med Surg


. 2020 Oct 1;10.1002/ams2.584.
doi: 10.1002/ams2.584. Online ahead of print.
Personal Protective Equipment Use by Healthcare Workers in Intensive Care Unit During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan: Comparative Analysis With the PPE-SAFE Survey


Takeshi Unoki ¹ , Mitsuhiro Tamoto ² , Akira Ouchi ³ , Hideaki Sakuramoto ³ , Asami Nakayama ⁴ , Yukiko Katayama ⁵ , Satoko Miyazaki ⁶ , Toru Yamada ⁷ , Shigeki Fujitani ⁸ , Osamu Nishida ⁹ , Alexis Tabah ¹⁰ , PPE‐SAFE in Japan Project, International Exchange Committee, the Japan Society of Intensive Care Medicine



Affiliations

• PMID: 33042559
• PMCID: PMC7537292
• DOI: 10.1002/ams2.584

Free PMC article

Abstract

Aim: We investigated personal protective equipment (PPE) use and its shortage, training, and adverse events among healthcare workers (HCWs) in the intensive care unit (ICU) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan and compared the results with an international survey that used the same methodology.
Methods: This web-based survey was conducted from April 14 to May 6, 2020, in Japan and included HCWs directly involved in ICU management of COVID-19 patients. A survey invitation was emailed using the Japanese Society of Intensive Care Medicine's mailing list.
Results: We analyzed 460 valid responses from among 976 responses. The N95/FFP2 mask (77%) was most frequently used than in the international study, although half of our respondents reported reuse of single-use N95/FFP2 masks. The median duration (1 hour) of uninterrupted PPE use per shift was less than that in the international study. The commonest PPE-related adverse event was experiencing intense heat (75%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that being a nurse was independently associated with experiencing intense heat.
Conclusion: PPE shortage and frequent mask reuse were prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Intense heat is the most significant symptom, especially for nurses, even with short-duration PPE use. Strategies to protect HCWs from dehydration and intense heat stroke are needed.

Keywords: Healthcare workers; Heat; Intensive care unit; Personal protective equipment; Safety.