Doctors, physicians, and caregivers are the frontline contenders of COVID-19 who are exposed to the infection daily. Since the virus can be easily transferred from one person to another through respiratory droplets, blood, body fluids, etc., there is a heightened need to protect healthcare staff and patients during the global pandemic. Currently, the United States is the world’s worst-affected country with COVID+ cases exceeding 6.3 million and deaths exceeding 190,000 according to reports by Statista. During the pandemic, there has been a huge demand for personal protective equipment which has created an acute shortage of PPE supply in the country. This shortage has led to the emergence of many personal protective equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the USA who are striving to meet the growing demand for PPE gear.
As one of the leading bulk PPE suppliers in the USA, we do our best to help healthcare systems and people in the fight against COVID-19 by supplying high-quality PPE gear including face masks, gloves, isolation gowns, and other medical equipment.
We believe that simple communication with conventional tools can put caregivers at greater risk. The physicians and nurses may get sick or exposed to the highly infectious virus and may subsequently be quarantined and not be available to care for patients. Hospitals should take initiatives to partner with local PPE suppliers in the medical industry so that healthcare workers have enough PPE gear to wear while caring for or treating the patients.
Effective Communication Can Mitigate the Risk of Contamination
During the current scenario, hospitals and healthcare settings are filled with patients with COVID-19. Patients undergoing treatment for contagious disease are subject to various transmission-based precautions such as airborne, droplet, contact, etc. A caregiver wearing PPE should be more careful when communicating with isolated COVID-19 positive patients or any other person.
In case there’s an emergency to contact someone, and you’re treating someone with the infection, it can be a tough situation for you. Even if the room might have an intercom, if your hands are occupied in providing care to the patient, you will have to stop your work to communicate. While if the room doesn’t have an intercom, you’ll have to leave the patient, go to a separate room, remove your PPE, and then go out and ask for help or pick up a phone. While doing all this, there are higher chances of contaminating yourself. So, the less you’ll have to do all these things, the safer you are.
If you use a clear, secure communication channel hands-free beneath your PPE, then you’re much safer and the quality of your patient care service is also enhanced. You can carry a wearable device under your PPE and use it to communicate with others no matter where your hands are occupied or where you are in the hospital.
Optimal PPE Availability at the Healthcare Settings
Due to the increased demand for PPE across the country and worldwide, personal protective equipment manufacturers and bulk PPE suppliers in the USA are finding it difficult to meet the demand spikes for PPE. This has led to the shortage of PPE at healthcare systems due to which healthcare professionals are at higher risk of contamination.
To mitigate the risk of PPE shortage, hospitals should encourage the rational use of PPE and hand hygiene materials used for the care and management of COVID-19. Healthcare systems should partner with reliable PPE suppliers in the medical industry to get high-quality PPE gear and train their healthcare staff on how to put on, remove, and dispose off PPE.
To ensure optimal PPE availability, healthcare settings should:
- Minimize the need for PPE by using telemedicine, putting physical barriers such as glass or plastic to reduce exposure, restricting movements or staff’s presence in the rooms of COVID-19 infected patients by bundling activities, limiting visitor’s access to healthcare facilities, and providing guidance on the proper use of PPE and hand hygiene.
- Ensure the rational and proper use of PPE by allowing healthcare workers to use specific PPE for various types of care, allocating masks efficiently, and implementing optimized PPE supply chain management systems.
In case there’s a shortage of PPE, healthcare staff should be allocated to perform a task or set of tasks in designated areas. Additionally, healthcare systems should buy durable, high-quality, medical-grade PPE gear from trusted personal protective equipment manufacturers so that the products have a longer shelf life.
Checklist for Hospitals to Manage the COVID-19 Patients
To better manage COVID-19 patients, hospitals should
- Establish a core team of caregivers and key internal and external points of contact.
- Consider human, facility, and material capacity.
- Ensure communication and data protection.
- Have its communication and clinical systems integrated to ensure effective communication.
- Manage hand hygiene, PPE, and wastes effectively.
- Ensure triage, first contact, and prioritization.
- Controlling patient placement, movement of the patients in the healthcare setting, and visitor access.
- Maintain environmental cleaning.
Co-Defend is Here to Help You
As one of the leading bulk PPE suppliers in the USA, we are here to help you in the fight against COVID-19. We not only offer a wide range of PPE gear and medical supplies but also provide COVID-19 testing services and solutions to control the spread of the virus. We are here to cater to your healthcare and COVID-19 testing needs and ensure an adequate supply of PPE and medical equipment as and when required.
Please contact us to know how we can help with our services.