Difficulties and Skin Damages Caused by Personal Protective Equipment among Nurses Caring for COVID-19 Patients

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has touched almost every zone. Personal
protective equipment is the last line of preservation of healthcare providers. Due to the prolonged
use of PPE, many adverse skin reactions may happen. The aim of the study to: Explore the
difficulties and Skin Damages Caused by Personal Protective Equipment among Nurses Caring
for COVID-19 Patients. Design: This study was Descriptive research design was applied in this
study. Setting: The study was performed in heart and chest diseases hospital at Zagazig
University Hospital. Subjects: This study implemented on (30) nurses, majority of nurses were
females, their ages are ranged from (20-50) years old and participate in the study. Tools: In this
study, questionnaire to combine the difficulties and self-reported skin damages among the nurses
with questions on demographics and a questionnaire concerning personal protective equipment
and mainly focused on difficulties and skin damages Results: The common clinical symptoms of
skin damages were Scar in the large part of the nose, Pain in the back ears, Excessive sweating,
58.1% of nurses had difficulty related to prolonged time of using personal protective equipment.
Conclusion: PPE among HCWs is imperative to avert the widespread diffusion of COVID-19
but could be detrimental due to utilization for long period. Recommendation: A comprehensive
program should be taken for nurses about the proper PPE use to prevent these
difficulties and
skin damages