Personal Protective Equipment Uses and Safety

Putting on your Personal Protective Equipment

Putting on Gloves

Pull gloves onto your hands, being careful not to rip or tear them.
Longer nails and rings can damage gloves and should be avoided if gloves are required frequently.

Putting on Mask & Eye Protection

Handle the mask by the ear loops (or strings) and place over your mouth and nose.
Hook the loops behind the ears and press the nose piece tight against the bridge of your nose.
Pull the bottom of the mask down to cover under your chin.
Your mouth and nose must be covered at all times for the mask to be effective.
For eye protection, handle the glasses or face shield by the arms or band.
Avoid touching the lenses or the shield itself as this can introduce smudges that may obstruct your view.
Place on your face in a comfortable position.

Putting on Gowns

Gowns are worn with the opening in the back.
Tie the neck ties first, then the waist ties.
Make sure that all ties are in the back – do not wrap them around your waist and tie in the front.

Items should be layered when you need to wear multiple PPE items. They should be put on in this order:

Gown
Mask
Eye/face protection
Gloves – make sure the cuff of the gloves go over the wrists of the gowns.

Removal of Personal Protective Equipment

After removing any item, practice proper hand-hygiene (wash hands or use sanitizer).

Gloves – remove gloves using the outside-to-outside, inside-to-inside method.

Masks – grasp the mask by one ear-loop and unhook it. Pull the mask out and away from your face. Unhook the other loop. Be sure to avoid touching the front of the mask.

Eye protection – grasp the glasses by the arms, or the face shield by the band. Lift the protection off and away from your body. Be sure not to touch the front of the glasses or shield.

Gown – untie the waist ties first, then the neck ties. From the neck, pull the gown off and away from your body. Pull your hands through the arms so they become inside-out. Ball up the gown with the outside of the gown being on the inside of the ball.

Proper Glove Removal

Remove gloves using the *“glove to glove, skin to skin” technique. Throw into the appropriate garbage container. Use proper hand hygiene/handwashing.

*Glove to glove, skin to skin technique

When you take off gloves, always make sure the outside of the gloves do not touch your skin.

While being careful to only touch the glove's outside surface, pinch one glove at the wrist
Pull the glove down and off over your hand and fingers
Form the removed glove into a ball and hold it in the still gloved hand. Place your ungloved thumb under the inside cuff of the other glove on the palm side of the hand, then push the glove inside out and down over finger and over the balled up glove.
Discard gloves appropriately

Eye and Face Protection

Eye and face protection includes masks, goggles and faceshields. During activities that may cause splashes or sprays of blood, body fluids, secretions or excretions, or if the patient/client/resident is coughing or sneezing, eye and face protection should be used.

Tips to remember when wearing eye or face protection:

Prescription glasses are not good enough to protect your eyes. Goggles or faceshields should be used and need to fit comfortably and completely over prescription glasses
If a mask becomes crushed, wet, contaminated, or has dangled around the neck, it should be thrown away and replaced with a new mask
When removing eye or face protection, do it very slowly and carefully to avoid contaminating yourself
Clean all re-useable eye and face protection immediately after you finish using it

Proper eye and face protection removal:

Eye Protection

Use both hands to remove eye protection by the sides. Disposable eye and face protection goes in the garbage after one use.
Re-useable eye or face protection goes in the proper container for cleaning after one use. Throw in the garbage if disposable, or in a proper container if reprocessed.
Always do proper hand hygiene/handwashing.

Masks

Pull both loops from behind ears, or undo ties, using both hands.
Prevent self-contamination by pulling mask away from face by the loops or ties.
Throw in the right garbage container.
Do proper hand hygiene/handwashing.

Gown Removal

Untie the waist ties first, then the neck ties.
From the neck, pull the gown off and away from your body.
Pull your hands through the arms so they become inside-out.
Ball up the gown with the outside of the gown being on the inside of the ball.

Sanitizing Reusable Personal Protective Equipment

Wipes

Sanitizing wipes can be used to clean surfaces.

Always follow manufacturer’s directions and most recommend wearing gloves while using.

Wipes work well for sanitizing, but are not as effective at disinfecting.

Sprays

A spray is more effective at disinfecting a surface, since you can spray the area and let the liquid sit on the surface for the 4-6 minutes needed to disinfect.

In commercial and hospital settings, stronger options are often used. As with wipes, ensure to read and follow all manufacturer instructions. Most recommend gloves and a mask when using.

Immersion

Items that are entirely water safe can be immersed in a bath of hot water and a sanitizing agent for 5 to 10 minutes to disinfect them.

This works well for disinfecting a large number of items at the same time, such as safety glasses and face shields. Follow manufacturer’s directions for concentrations.

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