Hospital workers who followed official infection control guidelines for pandemic influenza for 1 day used 10 times as many gloves as usual, generated three times as much clinical waste, and found that many tasks took longer than normal, according to a new report.
The 24-hour exercise in a British hospital also revealed various other
challenges, including that hospital workers lacked confidence in their
ability to follow infection control guidelines, felt uncomfortable
wearing surgical masks, and felt that wearing personal protective
equipment (PPE) hindered communication, according to the report,
published online by the Journal of Infection Control.