There are resources on the CDC website also for putting on and removing
personal protective equipment, donning and doffing. And these sequences, the
posters can be pulled down, and you can practice with these. And many of you have
already accessed these resources and done them before. I think the one thing
to keep in mind is that combination of PPE used and, therefore, the sequence in
putting it on will be determined by the level of precautions required. So the
posters are available for download, and I courage all of you to go to the link and
download these. Next slide, please. Now the steps for donning PPE — obviously
we would want to start with a gown — and prior to that perform hand hygiene —
putting it on carefully and tying it, depending upon if it's tied in the back, or a
snap down, or a zip down in the front. The next step would be to actually put on a
mask or a respirator and secure the ties or elastic bands at the middle of the
head and the neck. Again, you want to ensure that you're following the
appropriate directions for putting that on according to the manufacturer. And
then you would put on goggles or face shield over the face and eyes and adjust
the fit. If there is any risk of contamination, you obviously want to make
sure that you would then be performing hand hygiene and then putting your
gloves on. And in doing so, you'd want to make sure if you have a cuffed gown, that
you put the sleeves of the glove up over the cuff of the gown itself. Next slide,
please. Now in terms of removing — doffing, — there
are two different potential steps that you would follow. The first step,
obviously, would be to remove the gloves. The outside's contaminated. So what you
would want to do is grasp the outside of the glove with the opposite gloved hand
and sort of peel it back. And then, with that inverted glove, hold the removed
glove in your hand and slide the fingers of the
under glove in the remaining glove to the wrist, and then peel that one back
and dispose of the gloves. If there's any concern at that point that there's been
contamination on the hands — at that point you would stop and perform hand hygiene.
Now if you are outside of the room when you are doing this, you would remove the
goggles or eye protection next, and as you do that keep in mind that the front
of the goggles and the sides of the face mask where the goggles may be
contaminated. So you'd want to remove it behind the head. Next slide, please
A second approach would be to remove the gown — front sleeves are always
contaminated — unfasten the tides and pull them away and turn the gown inside out
and fold it or roll it into a bundle, and then remove the mask. So if you're in an
operatory room and you're removing your personal protective equipment, it would
be best to follow this step, and keep your mask and face shield on until you
would exit the room and, obviously, dispose of in a waste receptacle and
then perform hand hygiene.
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