Awareness about donning and doffing of personal protective equipment among doctors working in a fever clinic of West Bengal

Abstract

Background: Fever clinics were established across the country for screening of patients suggestive of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). The doctors posted in these clinics were provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) for their protection. Improper use of these equipment may result in infection. Objectives: The objective is to assess the awareness of doctors posted at fever clinic regarding donning and doffing of PPE. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out from May to June 2020 on doctors posted at the fever clinic of Sambhunath Pandit Hospital, Kolkata by census method using a predesigned, pretested structured questionnaire (Google form). Statistical analysis was done with the help of appropriate statistical software. Results: None of the doctors working in the fever clinic had adequate knowledge regarding steps of donning and doffing of PPE while 77.4% doctors did not know the correct steps of maintaining hand hygiene. Still the percentage of participants with satisfactory knowledge and satisfactory attitude regarding PPE was 84.9% and 62.3%, respectively. Conclusions: This study suggests that there is a need for active training of the study population in order to effectively protect them from COVID-19.

Keywords

• coronavirus disease-2019
• doffing
• donning
• fever clinic
• personal protective equipment