Effect of PPE doffing errors on healthcare worker self-contamination

Editor's Note

The risk of hand contamination was higher when healthcare workers (HCWs) removed their gloves before their gowns during personal protective equipment (PPE) doffing, and HCWs who made multiple PPE doffing errors were more likely to have contaminated clothes after patient interactions, this study finds.

In this analysis of 125 HCWs (66.4% nurses, 19.2% physicians) in adult ICUs, 34.4% acquired a multidrug-resistant organism that was colonizing or infecting a patient after interaction with the patient.

More than a third of HCWs made multiple errors in doffing PPE, and they were more likely to have contaminated clothes after patient interactions.

A total of 3.2% of HCWs hands were contaminated after a patient encounter, often in the context of removing their gloves before their gowns.

An intervention as simple as reinforcing the order of doffing may reduce HCW contamination, the researchers note.