Personal Protective Equipment for Protecting Healthcare Staff during COVID-19 Outbreak: A Narrative Review

 The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic state as the coronavirus spread across the world. Personal protective equipment (PPE) has become a critical subject during the COVID-19 outbreak. It is necessary to prevent coronavirus transmission to healthcare workers (HCWs) as providing care. They are at high risk of exposure to coronavirus. The aim of this study was to provide a brief review of some routes of transmission of COVID-19, what, when and why PPE is recommended base on the route of transmission.

In this review, articles were extracted from the Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed search engines. The main keywords for search were coronavirus, COVID-19, personal protective PPE, healthcare, transmission, contact, and protect. 

Findings showed the COVID-19 transmission rate in the HCWs that wore PPE significantly decreased. All HCWs must use appropriate and adequate PPE in order to minimize the COVID-19 transmission. 

Although still uncertainty remains around COVID-19 transmission and it is early to have conclusion on its prevention, most of recommendations and guidance have emphasized to apply the PPE during COVID-19 outbreak among HCWs.