Health care workers’ experience of personal protective equipment use and associated adverse effects during the COVID-19 pandemic response in Singapore.

February 15, 2022

Aloweni F, Bouchoucha SL, Hutchinson A, et al.

Journal of Advanced Nursing

A cross-sectional descriptive survey study was used, in which 592 health workers participated, most of the respondents were women (81.9%) and under 40 years of age (75.7%), most were nurses (87 .3%), followed by physicians (4.2%) and related to health (2%). Of the 592 participants, 269 (45.4%) reported a pre-existing skin condition. Among them, dry skin (n = 156, 58.0%) and eczema (n = 92, 34.2%) were the most commonly reported conditions. 88% of the participants reported using N95 and 70.3% used surgical masks, and for eye protection they used face shields (67.4%) and goggles (52.7%). N95 mask-induced acne was reported by 129 participants (40.4%) and 81 participants (25.4%) reported acne from wearing a surgical/reusable mask.

Aloweni F, Bouchoucha SL, Hutchinson A, et al. Health care workers’ experience of personal protective equipment use and associated adverse effects during the COVID-19 pandemic response in Singapore. J Adv Nurs 2022; published online Feb 15. DOI:10.1111/jan.15164.

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