Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Nov 2021)
Availability of Personal Protective Equipment Among Health-care Workers in Jordan During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Survey
Abstract
Arash Nemat,1,2 Osama Alsarhan,2 Nahid Raufi,3,4 Eva Inam Al Zein,5 Khalid A Kheirallah,6 Mohammad Yousuf Mubarak1 1Department of Microbiology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan; 2Department of Cardiology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Dermatology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan; 4Department of Dermatology, Guangdong Provincial Dermatology Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 5Jordan Food and Drug Administration, Amman, Jordan; 6Department of Public Health, Medical School of Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, JordanCorrespondence: Khalid A KheirallahDepartment of Public Health, Medical School of Jordan University of Science and Technology, PO Box 3030, Irbid, 22110, JordanEmail [email protected] Yousuf MubarakDepartment of Microbiology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, 3rd District, Jamal Mina, Kabul, 1001, AfghanistanTel +93 79 934 1057Email [email protected]: The inception of the COVID-19 has put health-care workers (HCWs) in a precarious situation across the world. In spite of the challenges in Jordan, the high awareness and preparedness of HCWs made it feasible for the country to control the contagious virus. The study aimed to provide a useful insight into availability of PPE among HCWs in Jordan, which could help the policy/decision-makers of public health to design better programs based on the information reported.Methods: This cross-sectional online survey was conducted during July 2020 for the evaluation of the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) among HCWs in Jordan.Results: A total of 751 HCWs responded from different parts of the country, who were actively working at different hospitals in Jordan. The majority of the participants (94%) reported having sufficient knowledge about COVID-19 and more than two-thirds of participants (68%) reported that PPE were provided by the Jordanian Ministry of Health. The majority (91%) of participants reported availability of medical face masks, while only 26% reported having facial protective shields.Conclusion: The study highlighted sufficient availability of PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have caused minimal infection rates among HCWs in Jordan.Keywords: Jordan, coronavirus, pandemic, PPE, survey
