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VOLUME 24 , ISSUE 5 ( May, 2020 ) > List of Articles

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Personal Protective Equipment: A Pandora's Box

Gopal Chawla, Nupur Abrol, Kamna Kakkar

Keywords : Coronavirus, COVID-19, Healthcare workers, Personal protective equipment

Citation Information : Chawla G, Abrol N, Kakkar K. Personal Protective Equipment: A Pandora's Box. Indian J Crit Care Med 2020; 24 (5):371-372.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10071-23443

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 28-07-2020

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2020; The Author(s).


Abstract

Countries all over the world writhing under the wrath of coronavirus face not only the challenge of protecting their population but the tougher challenge of protecting their healthcare workers (HCWs) dealing with the patient population. This pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on global healthcare systems, with personal protective equipment (PPE) being the most notable one. Apart from the challenge of procurement of PPE, the major challenge is rationalizing the use of PPE in this war against corona virus disease 19 (COVID19). Using PPE comes with its own set of problems such as extreme exhaustion, rashes, inability to consume food, or use washroom which can result in clouding of judgment and breach of infection barrier. Making PPE user-friendly and limiting the interaction of HCW with COVID19 patients coupled with the use of robotics, telemedicine, and other innovations is the need of the hour.


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