How To Choose Medical Protective Clothing Correctly

Protective clothing is most widely used in health care Settings, and should be used by health care workers when caring for patients who may have a specific infectious disease, taking into account the transmission pattern of the infectious disease. Whether standard or isolation precautions are applied, the choice of medical protective clothing should take into account the risk and nature of the expected exposure, as well as the level of protection that the medical protective clothing provides.

Choose the right medical protective clothing

How to choose the right medical protective clothing? The network recommends considering the nature of the illness a health care worker is exposed to, the likelihood of exposure to body fluids, and the importance of having other personal protective equipment in addition to medical protective clothing.

A) The nature of the disease should be taken into account. The most important of these is whether the etiology and mode of transmission of the disease are known. If the mode of transmission of the disease is known, it is easy to choose appropriate medical protective clothing and other personal protective equipment.

B) The possibility of exposure to body fluids should be considered. When a patient has projectile vomiting or severe diarrhea, the likelihood is high, and a higher level of barrier protection may be necessary. The operation of the medical procedure is also very important, especially because of the presence of an intubator, which results in the production of large amounts of fluid.

The role of medical protective clothing:

One is to protect medical staff from being infected by patients;

The second is to protect patients from infection by health care workers. In the initial stage of an infectious disease (such as SARS), high barrier personal protective equipment (PPE) should be used, which is not easy for health care workers to change when facing different patients. In this case, wear a traditional protective medical suit in addition to the protective gear. When health care workers face different patients, only the outermost protective medical suit needs to be changed to protect patients and health care workers from cross-contamination.

Additional protective equipment in addition to medical protective clothing is also necessary. These additional protective equipment include shoe covers, leg covers, jumpsuits, aprons and surgical masks. Protective clothing is just one part of the overall safety strategy for health care workers and patients in the face of infectious diseases.