In this video we are looking at combination PPE to protect us against
some of the more common things we're going to see in the hospital such as
influenza. It is influenza season at the time of this recording and so we need to
make sure we're wearing our contact and droplet precautions - but we're going to
talk about all of that right after this.
Welcome back my name is Tammy and this is NurseMinder and on this channel we
do everything nursing so if you're new here consider subscribing below so that
you get the next video when it's released. Now before we get started I do want to
take a little bit of a moment to do a public service announcement or rant as
they're sometimes known. I have recently had to explain to people who work in the
healthcare field that PPE is there to protect not just them but the other
people that they are serving. So for example there was a family member
visiting her mom who was in with influenza A, in isolation, confirmed
diagnosis - and this family member was sitting there in gown and gloves only,
and when I went to educate them, without knowing she was health care, explain to
her the rationale and the PPE that she was missing - and provided it to her - the
response was "I'm in health care I know what I'm doing". You don't know what
you're doing! You need to make sure you're not just centered on yourself. You
have to protect the others that you're going to come in contact with, so please
these are not just guidelines or suggestions, these are in fact the pieces
of equipment you need to take care of yourself and those at your care for. PSA
done. Now we can go on to contact and droplet precautions - combination. So in
our previous videos we talked about droplet precautions on their own and
droplets are those larger particles that don't travel as far and we need to be
close up in order to be in a range of which we are at risk. So we just use our
surgical masks for that and in contact precautions those are the ones that we
get with skin-to-skin contact or by touching their environment. So now we're
going to put those two together. These patients can still have their door open
because remember the droplets don't travel 15
meters, they are traveling 2, 3 and 4 meters in distance. If we need to put our
patients together in a room, we've got more than we need, to at least put 2
meters between those patients to help decrease the risk of transmitting that
microorganism. Some of our common things are influenza. That is such a big thing
right now in our hospitals. This is currently January when I'm filming this
video so this is a big time for influenza.
Another one is RSV. We see that commonly in infants. Norovirus, Rhinoviru,
enterovirus. There is a list. What's important to know though is you want to be
looking at your document in your facility to identify that the patient's
diagnosis matches the contact precautions that you are employing to
protect yourself and others. Now in my facility, when we do have an influenza
patient, there is a special note on here and I don't know if everybody notices it
because it's on the backside of our document. So there's our front side and
everybody sees what we need to wear but on the backside it says specifically if
your aerosolizing any medications, you're doing some Ventolin aerosolization, we
need to wear an N95 mask because we're now aerosolizing and we have those
smaller particles in the air which puts us at risk . So please make sure you're
always reading front and back. And now let's head on to our demo of
donning and doffing our contact and droplet precautions. Now we're going to
get ready as if we're going into a room that requires contact and droplet
precautions. So we're going to start with our gown. Finding those top straps and
doing those up at the back.
And taking these ones, I want to ensure I'm covered at the bottom to protect
myself and my patients.
Next is the surgical mask.
This is followed by our face mask. Last we have our gloves.
Now let's look at the doffing procedure. Beginning with your gloves, we're going
to turn them inside each other and discard these. We want to get rid of the
gloves first so we can wash our hands and then remove our other pieces of
equipment with clean hands, reducing the risk of transmission of those
microorganisms. Moving on to your gown, we're going to be careful to try and
only touch the ties, undoing those gowns and then we're going to grab the inside
shoulder if possible, wrapping that down over your arms and discarding your gown.
Now, of course, you probably guessed it, we're going to complete hand hygiene
because our hands may have been contaminated in that process. Next we're
going to remove our face shield, Complete hand hygiene and then remove our
surgical mask; making sure we finish off with that hand hygiene so that we can
move on to our next patient. So remember for your NCLEX exam - for those of you
watching are still waiting to write - this may be information you need to match up
diagnosis with PPE. So this is a good review for you and for those who are in
healthcare who "know what they're doing", this is also a good review so that you
can educate those around you and elevate your practice. Until next time, make it a
great day :)