Disposable gowns can ’ t be judged based solely on their appearance , labeling , or packaging , making it hard for purchasers or wearers to know the level of protection that a gown will provide . Healthcare facilities need to vet prospective suppliers and their products , and they need to educate wearers about which of the gowns in inventory are appropriate for various uses .”
through these issues and there ’ s an important opportunity for learning here . The good news is that people have come up with new ways to do things , or they re-examine old ways of doing things to identify areas for improvement , and hopefully everyone is building upon that and recognizing the value of having flexibility within your supply chain so that we are in better shape before the next crisis hits .”
The No . 9 issue , Disposable Gowns with Insufficient Barrier Protection Put Wearers at Risk , taps into the challenge for facilities and systems that ran out of PPE during the pandemic was accepting the risks associated with PPE from non-traditional suppliers , as it was presumed that some PPE was better than no PPE , even though the quality and barrier protection levels might not have been optimal .
As the ECRI hazards report explains , “ Product selection errors and gown manufacturing flaws can lead to the use of medical protective gowns that do not adequately protect the wearer from body fluids and other potentially harmful substances . Gown wearers can be put at risk of cross-contamination if the wrong type of gown is purchased and worn for the intended application , or if the gown does not provide the level of protection that is claimed . Selecting the appropriate gown ( isolation , surgical , or cover ) for any given application , however , is not as simple as looking at its labeling . The nomenclature used by suppliers to designate the gown type or protection level is not consistent . Terms may be used interchangeably , or in a manner that does not align with standards that define barrier protection levels . Additionally , ECRI ’ s testing of disposable gowns has raised concerns about manufacturing quality , particularly in gowns from non-traditional suppliers ( i . e ., new , or non-U . S . manufacturers ). Roughly half of the tested gowns failed to meet required protection levels .”
“ The gown topic that is on our list this year grew out of testing that we had conducted of gowns from non-traditional suppliers ,” Schluth says . “ Throughout the pandemic , when supplies were tight , facilities couldn ’ t procure the gowns they were used to getting , so they needed to try to find them from other sources . Some of those gowns ended up being fine , but some of them were not great quality , and that ’ s maybe not surprising if a manufacturer is new to producing this kind of product ; their quality may not be as good as that from a company which has been manufacturing this product forever . So , hospitals were
concerned , and they asked ECRI to conduct some testing and we did find that there were some problems . We continued our examination of the issue , testing gowns from traditional suppliers just to see if this was a universal issue or was it just a problem with these new suppliers who perhaps weren ’ t manufacturing up to standards . That testing is ongoing . We ’ re still seeing some issues , but it ’ s too early to tell ; I think it ’ s fair to say for any product – and certainly for any disposable product – that there could be manufacturing-quality issues with gowns .”
Schluth adds that even gowns from traditional suppliers can create confusion for healthcare personnel .
“ Our infection prevention specialists and our engineers who were conducting the testing relayed this to me that even with traditional gowns from institutions ’ normal suppliers , it ’ s not always easy for the end user ( the clinician ) to know which gown they should wear for a particular situation . There are isolation gowns , surgical gowns , cover gowns , and , depending on what you might be exposed to , that ’ s going to determine what sort of protection is needed . A clinician might think , ‘ That should be simple . I ’ m going into the COVID ward , so I put on an isolation gown . I go find it on the shelf and look at the label , and maybe it says isolation gown , so I ’ m good , right ?’ What our research has shown is that is not the case . You can ’ t depend on product labeling or marketing to know what sort of protection it ’ s going to provide . The nomenclature that might be used by manufacturers is not always tied to a standard definition of what an isolation gown and the level of protection it should provide , which is 360-degree coverage . There are products in the marketplace that claim to be isolation gowns , but they don ’ t meet the standards , or they don ’ t provide sufficient coverage , or they don ’ t tell you the level of barrier protection . So , if hospitals bought those gowns thinking they were getting isolation-level protection , they are mistaken , and the wearers may not be protected the way they think they are . Other products we found were not rated and had no barrier protection claims ; in that case if you were procuring them to have cover gowns for low-risk situation , maybe you ’ re fine . But if you thought you were buying an isolation gown , you need to know it ’ s not rated and therefore you can ’ t be certain of the level of protection . We want to raise awareness that your facility ’ s infection preventionist should take a close look at the gowns that are in your inventory to ensure they are appropriate for use .”
As the ECRI report notes , “ Disposable gowns can ’ t be judged based solely on their appearance , labeling , or packaging , making it hard for purchasers or wearers to know the level of protection that a gown will provide . Healthcare facilities need to vet prospective suppliers and their products , and they need to educate wearers about which of the gowns in inventory are appropriate for various uses .” Schluth encourages facilities to evaluate their suppliers . “ We encourage people to do their homework and find out as much information as they can about the materials and the manufacturing quality . During a situation like a pandemic , it can be quite challenging to do so , but facilities must do what they can to determine whether manufacturers have made those gowns before or if they are new to the gown-manufacturing