Infection Prevention And Control Training
On Saturday afternoon there was a training session for physicians, nurses and laboratory personnel to refresh their knowledge on Personal Protective Equipment [PPE] and Infection Prevention and Control [IPC].
A Government spokesperson said, “The training was facilitated by the Infection Prevention and Control professionals at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and Ministry of Health staff including the Department of Health’s Senior Medical Officer Dr. Heather Armstrong and the Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit’s Nurse Epidemiologist Ms Jennifer Wilson.
“The training was intended for physicians, nurses and laboratory personnel to refresh their skills in the use of PPE and healthcare facility IPC in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Cheryl Peek-Ball said, “We expect participants in this training would be equipped to: safely manage patients who are suspected of having the virus, collect specimens for testing, and could serve as a pool of professionals to assist with a centralized COVID-19 testing set-up.”
There were 15 participants.
Please tell me our medical professionals have access to full, hooded coveralls and at least N95 masks if not level4 bio hazard positive pressure, air supplied hoods and boot covers for dealing with people shedding the virus. They should look like the Chinese or S. Korean personnel not like the workers at the US nursing home who wore only basic equipment at first. Stay safe.
It spreads as an airborne aerosol, like SARS.
Please don’t repeat the same mistake as Cayman did. Health City Cayman Islands is now temporarily closing and will not be accepting new patients for two weeks. Their staff tested positive because of the contact with Cayman’s first confirmed COVID-19 case, who is a patient at the hospital, later announced as the first death.
To protect them well, maybe learn from other epicenter countries, wear masks and goggles. One nurse, Alessia Bonari in Milan, shared a picture on Instagram showing the bruises her protective mask had left on her face. She said in Italian that when she is in her protective clothing, she can’t go to the toilet or drink for six hours. That’s type of protection we need, not disposable gowns.
Wow.
So many.
I must be missing some thing.
The “safety” equipment shown being worn in the photos won’t protect the medical staff. Full hazmat protection is needed or these people will get infected and spread the virus. They deserve the best and this doesn’t come close.