PPE Shortages in Nursing-Diagramming Project

Personal protective types of equipment refer to medical protective gear which medical practitioners use to protect themselves from contracting infectious diseases when dealing with patients. There are various types of personal protective equipment, including face masks and shields, gloves, barrier creams, medical gowns, goggles, and medical boots (Burki, 2020). The World Health Organization has recognized a shortage of medical personal protective equipment across the world (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020). The organization attributes the shortage of PPEs to a variety of factors, including hoarding, misuse, panic buying, and an overall increased demand following the emergence of the global pandemic. The coronavirus pandemic is the main cause of PPE shortages since the disease is highly infectious, raising the demand on PPEs. Nurses and other frontline workers have been reported to be on high alert for medical protective gear following shortages and numerous cases of misuse (Burki, 2020). This paper is a diagramming project addressing the global shortage of PPEs.PPE Shortages in Nursing-Diagramming Project

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Figure 1. Components of PPE

Figure 2. Shortage of PPEs (WHO, 2020)

The major impact of PPE shortages is a significant increase in the cost of acquiring medical personal protective equipment. A rise in prices infers that far fewer nurses and other frontline health workers will be able to access or afford PPEs hence escalating the risk of exposure to infectious diseases (Burki, 2020). As a result, medical practitioners are on a constant cry-out for personal protective equipment. The medics have since resorted to making use of face coverings and trash bags in place of masks, shields, and medical gowns. The healthcare workers have also had to reuse all PPEs, increasing the risk of contracting infectious diseases (Mehrotra, Malani, & Yadav, 2020). The heightened risk of infection has prompted the mortality rate hence reducing the capacity of an already struggling healthcare system on a global scale.

Figure 3 the cause-effect diagram for PPE shortages (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020)PPE Shortages in Nursing-Diagramming Project

Categories of Cause and Contributing Factors

The causes of PPE shortages can be categorized into four: healthcare organizations, demand shock, government failure, and the supply chain. Owing to the rising trend in the cost of providing health care, hospitals have been trying to minimize their expenditure to maximize profits. Medical personal protective equipment have proved to be a capital expense. Healthcare organizations are tasked with providing frontline healthcare providers with personal protective equipment (World Health Organization, 2020). The priorities of these organizations lie heavily on the need to enhance profitability. Hospitals thus procure less protective gear forcing medical practitioners to reuse PPEs, prompting their exposure to infections (Mehrotra, Malani, & Yadav, 2020). The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an increased demand for medical protective gear causing a demand shock. The scarcity of PPEs is thus a factor of the demand shock.

The shortage of personal protective equipment was imminent, and as such, the government should have seen it coming. The US government, however, failed to put any measure in place to buffer the healthcare system from the looming shortage of PPEs (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020). The federal government, for instance, barely took the initiative to replenish the stockpile. Also, the government has been in constant war with China, which is the chief supplier of medical protective gear across the globe (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020). In addition, the government did not express any interest to make use of emergency power fueling the surge in PPE shortages. The supply chain is also a major cause of PPE shortages since the government depends on PPE imports. Despite a looming shortage, the US still maintained the exportation of medical protective gear to other nations (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020). Also, competition with other countries and between states could have contributed to the shortage of PPEs.

Possible Courses of Action

Funding the healthcare system to provide medical PPEs would enable hospitals to purchase more protective gear for frontline health workers, thus curbing PPE shortages in hospitals (World Health Organization, 2020). Putting effective decontamination systems in place to ensure proper decontamination before reusing PPEs will help curb the rising infections from reused gear (Mehrotra, Malani, & Yadav, 2020). Optimizing supplies in protective equipment will also come in handy in reducing the demand shock. It is also important to devise mechanisms to discourage hoarding to ensure the flow of PPEs in the system. The government should resolve its trade wars with China and other superpowers to allow the free flow of medical personal protective equipment in the global market (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020). The federal government should make an executive order to designate specific localities for heightening medical protective equipment, thus enriching supply in the market (Mehrotra, Malani, & Yadav, 2020). Stopping the exportation of protective gear must also be implemented to preserve the exported equipment for the US system (Cohen & van der Meulen Rodgers, 2020). Internationally procuring PPEs would restore balance in the supply chain.

Conclusion

Personal protective equipment refer to medical gear frontline health workers use to shield themselves from contracting infectious diseases. Examples of medical PPEs include face masks, face shields, gloves, medical gowns, and goggles, among others. There is a worldwide shortage of medical personal protective equipment.  The World Health attributes the shortage to a surge in demand for protective gear following a global pandemic, misuse of PPEs, hoarding, and panic buying. The causes of PPE shortages are grouped into four: hospitals, demand shock, government failure, and the supply chain. Healthcare organizations and the government have a huge role to play in curbing the shortages. The federal government, for instance, can make an executive order to allocate funds for increasing medical supplies, resolve international issues, stop exporting PPEs, and import protective gear from the global market.PPE Shortages in Nursing-Diagramming Project

References

Burki, T. (2020). Global shortage of personal protective equipment. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(7), 785-786.

Cohen, J., & van der Meulen Rodgers, Y. (2020). Contributing factors to personal protective equipment shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preventive Medicine, 106263.

Mehrotra, P., Malani, P., & Yadav, P. (2020, May). Personal Protective Equipment Shortages During COVID-19—Supply Chain–Related Causes and Mitigation Strategies. In JAMA Health Forum (Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. e200553-e200553). American Medical Association.

World Health Organization. (2020). Rational use of personal protective equipment for coronavirus disease (‎‎ COVID-19)‎‎ and considerations during severe shortages: interim guidance, 6 April 2020 (No. WHO/2019-nCov/IPC_PPE_use/2020.3). World Health Organization. PPE Shortages in Nursing-Diagramming Project