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STORY: GENEVA / EBOLA EQUIPMENT GUIDELINES
TRT: 2.00
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 31 OCTOBER 2014, GENEVA SWITZERLAND / FILE
30 SEPTEMBER 2014, ISLAND CLINIC, MONROVIA, LIBERIA
1. Tilt up, health worker putting on and wearing PPE
31 OCTOBER 2014, GENEVA SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“Today WHO came out with new guidelines on personal protective equipment, or PPE. PPE is the generic term used to describe clothing worn by health workers when they are taking care of patients who are infectious and the guidelines today are for health workers, taking care of Ebola patients.”
30 SEPTEMBER 2014, ISLAND CLINIC, MONROVIA, LIBERIA
3. Pan right, health workers putting on and wearing PPE
31 OCTOBER 2014, GENEVA SWITZERLAND
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“For the first time we look at the aspects of different types of PPE, and the main conclusion is that there is strong evidence for the use of PPE, but there is almost no evidence on the different types of PPE choices that you can make for treating patients.”
30 SEPTEMBER 2014, ISLAND CLINIC, MONROVIA, LIBERIA
5. Med shot, health worker putting on and wearing PPE
31 OCTOBER 2014, GENEVA SWITZERLAND
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“The biggest thing that the PPE can protect for is all of the, what you term as mucosae, your eyes, nose, mouth, that is the most risky area.”
30 SEPTEMBER 2014, ISLAND CLINIC, MONROVIA, LIBERIA
7. Med shot, health worker putting on and wearing PPE
31 OCTOBER 2014, GENEVA SWITZERLAND
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“Generally speaking, the guidelines recommend one layer of clothing, one head cover, one gown cover, it does also recommend coveralls plus an apron; that is one place where you may have heavy splashes in your front, it recommends that. And one other place where it recommends more than one layer is on gloves. So explicitly, for the first time mentions double gloving as the most appropriate way to go.”
30 SEPTEMBER 2014, ISLAND CLINIC, MONROVIA, LIBERIA
9. Med shot, health worker putting on and wearing PPE
31 OCTOBER 2014, GENEVA SWITZERLAND
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“Part of the concern and the issue with putting on extra layers of protection in a very hot environment like we have in the affected countries is heat stress and fatigue for health workers. “
30 SEPTEMBER 2014, ISLAND CLINIC, MONROVIA, LIBERIA
11. Wide shot, health workers putting on and wearing PPE
As part of the World Health Organization’s commitment to safety and protection of healthcare workers and patients from transmission of Ebola virus disease, WHO has conducted a formal review of personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines for healthcare workers and is updating its guidelines in context of the current outbreak.
These updated guidelines aim to clarify and standardize safe and effective PPE options to protect health care workers and patients, as well as provide information for procurement of PPE stock in the current Ebola outbreak.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“Today WHO came out with new guidelines on personal protective equipment, or PPE. PPE is the generic term used to describe clothing worn by health workers when they are taking care of patients who are infectious and the guidelines today are for health workers, taking care of Ebola patients.”
The guidelines are based on a review of evidence of PPE use during care of suspected and confirmed Ebola virus disease patients. The Guidelines Development Group convened by WHO included participation of a wide range of experts from developed and developing countries, and international organizations including the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Médecins Sans Frontières, the Infection Control Africa Network and others.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“For the first time we look at the aspects of different types of PPE, and the main conclusion is that there is strong evidence for the use of PPE, but there is almost no evidence on the different types of PPE choices that you can make for treating patients.”
Experts agreed that it was most important to have PPE that protects the mucosae – mouth, nose and eyes – from contaminated droplets and fluids. Given that hands are known to transmit pathogens to other parts of the body, as well as to other individuals, hand hygiene and gloves are essential, both to protect the health worker and to prevent transmission to others. Face cover, protective foot wear, gowns or coveralls, and head cover were also considered essential to prevent transmission to healthcare workers.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“The biggest thing that the PPE can protect for is all of the, what you term as mucosae, your eyes, nose, mouth, that is the most risky area.”
Benefits derived from PPE depend not only on choice of PPE, but also adherence to protocol on use of the equipment.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“Generally speaking, the guidelines recommend one layer of clothing, one head cover, one gown cover, it does also recommend coveralls plus an apron; that is one place where you may have heavy splashes in your front, it recommends that. And one other place where it recommends more than one layer is on gloves. So explicitly, for the first time mentions double gloving as the most appropriate way to go.”
A fundamental principle guiding the selection of different types of PPE was the effort to strike a balance between the best possible protection against infection while allowing health workers to provide the best possible care to patients with maximum ease, dexterity, comfort and minimal heat-associated stress. In this situation where evidence is still being collected, to see what works best and on an effective sustainable basis, it was considered prudent to provide options for selecting PPE. In most cases, there was no evidence to show that any one of the options recommended is superior to other options available for healthcare worker safety.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Edward Kelley, WHO Director for Service Delivery and Safety:
“Part of the concern and the issue with putting on extra layers of protection in a very hot environment like we have in the affected countries is heat stress and fatigue for health workers. “
Guidelines were developed from an accelerated development process that meets WHO’s standards for scientific rigour and serves as a complement to the Interim Infection Prevention and Control Guidance for Care of Patients with Suspected or Confirmed Filovirus Haemorrhagic Fever in Health-Care Settings, with Focus on Ebola, published by WHO in August 2014.
Further work is needed to gather scientific experience and data from the field in systematic studies, in order to understand why some health workers are infected in the current outbreak and to increase effective clinical care. WHO is committed to working with international partners on these issues to build this evidence base.
