Safeguarding from COVID-19: educating healthcare workers about the available protective equipment

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral illness which is transmitted through droplet spread and possibily the aerosol method. Older individuals are at higher risk compared with younger adults and children due to the presence of weaker immune functions. Healthcare workers are also at higher risk due to close proximity with the infected cases. Proper precautions and hand hygiene techniques can prevent the transmission of the disease. There is a dearth of evidence on how to manage the disease; therefore, protective measures might help to reduce the spread of infection. This article aimed to evaluate the preventive measure and use of protective equipment among healthcare workers and community settings. Various recent literature searched in the following databases—Medline/PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus—recommendations from centre for disease control and prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) reports on preventive measures of COVID-19 were included. After reviewing the previous literature, we summarized proper precautions and hygiene techniques, use of PPE and applicability of surgical and N95 (can block 95% small particles but not resistant to oil) masks to prevent the transmission of disease. This viewpoint can be considered as a unique example of information on infection control and protective measures. However, due to the lack of evidence, further research is required to compare the effectiveness of medical masks and N95 masks.