amount of research throughout the pandemic that only focused on the experiences of frontline healthcare personnel , which is important , but there were so many other healthcare workers who were also affected within the healthcare community . We were interested in looking at that group ’ s adherence to personal protective equipment ( PPE ) donning and doffing and how they were experiencing these common practices that weren ’ t so common to them .”

Co-author Emily J . Ciccone , MD , of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine , Division of Infectious Diseases , adds , “ The uncertain nature of providing healthcare in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic was a challenge to everyone . Healthcare

personnel who were on the front line were thought to be at increased risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 , and amidst the PPE shortages of PPE and as Emily Haas mentioned , new practices related to PPE use that were being implemented at a rapid pace , we wanted to collect granular longitudinal data among this cohort of healthcare personnel at our institutions . We wanted to look at the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 in that group but also risk factors for COVID-19 , and we wanted a smaller study where we could gather a lot of data about that smaller group of people related to PPE use and the potential risk of SARS-CoV-2 acquisition and transmission .”

Routine infection prevention and control measures include practices such as hand hygiene and the use of personal protective equipment ( PPE ) such as masks , gloves , and gowns . The researchers found that healthcare personnel who had the highest risk of exposure to SARS- CoV-2 were also the most likely to report errors in their own adherence to infection prevention measures .

As Haas , et al . ( 2023 ) state , “ Although infection precautions ( IP ) guidelines exist , standardized adoption is not universal , and adherence to specific practices is suboptimal – often occurring less than 50 percent of the time . Heavy workload and time limitations have been demonstrated as the two greatest contributors to low IP adherence . Notably , during the COVID-19 pandemic , HCP encountered higher workloads and time limitations in response to these

The Infection Prevention Exchange

By MD-Medical Data Quality & Safety Advisors , LLC

The IPEX Bundle

• Data

• Process Improvement

• Technology • Artificial Intelligence

Patient & Staff Safety

Patient Satisfaction Scores improved LeapFrog Scores improved

Financial & Operational Efficiencies 50-75 % Reductions in cost of infection

HEALTHCARE-ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS

Contact Tracing

50-75 % Reductions in infections

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