The Medical Journal of Australia | 2021
Evaluating the safety and effectiveness of novel personal protective equipment during the COVID‐19 pandemic
Abstract
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical in protecting hospital staff during the treatment of patients throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic. The increased usage of PPE worldwide, together with threatened manufacturing capability and disrupted supply chains, has resulted in reduced supplies of PPE reaching frontline workers, forcing the riskaverse health care system to investigate alternative pathways for procuring PPE. Clinicians have sourced PPE from industrial suppliers and hardware stores.1 Reports of community groups reaching out to clinicians and hospitals, offering design and 3D printing capabilities to supply PPE, particularly face shields, are also widespread.2,3 In addition, health services are purchasing PPE from local or international suppliers, such as the South Australia stockpile of N95 masks,4 with lack of certainty around the compliance with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regulations.