COVID-19 measures and Utilisation of Personal Protective Equipment among Healthcare Workers in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Helen A. Umoren, Sunday E. Ibanga & Itoro B. Ebong

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Abstract

This research was primarily focused on the analysis of personal protective equipment availability and use by healthcare workers in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used in this study due to the problem represented. Data collection and analysis were carried out using IBM SPSS software version 25. Both descriptive (frequency tables and summary indices) and inferential statistics (chi-squared test) were used. The chi-squared test was appropriate for significant proposal testing between categorical variables adjusted at p less than 0.05. Most of the respondents (53.4%) were between the ages of 21 and 30 years, 64.3% were female, and 43.4% were nurses. Almost 87% of the respondents reported a high level of awareness of environmental hazards at their workplaces. All the respondents (100%) confirmed the availability of hand gloves and 60% reported usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) occasionally. Also, a higher proportion (85.7%) said they had well-fitting personal protective equipment, while 79.7% reported occupational injuries in the past, with 70.9% self-treating. There were significant associations between both awareness of workplace hazards and the availability (P = 0.001) and practice (P = 0.0001) of PPE. The use of personal protective equipment was adequate except during procedures, where it was not used as it should have been. The study recommended, among others, that effective training of the health workers regarding appropriate use, including donning and doffing of PPE, should be part of the staff performance indices.

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