Whole-process Emergency Training of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Helps Healthcare Workers against COVID-19: Design and Effect

Objective: To develop an emergency training program of personal protective equipment (PPE) for general healthcare workers (HCWs) who may be under the threat of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and evaluate the effect of the program. Methods: A three-stage training program was designed. The complete clinical workflow together with infectious disease ward was simulated. To verify the effect of the program, an experimental training with pre- and post-test was conducted before large-scale training. Results: Post-test scores were significantly improved when compared with the pre-test scores. Among all PPE, N95 respirator and protective coverall needed training most. Meanwhile, "proficiency level" and "mutual check & help" also needed to be strengthened as independent scoring points. Conclusion: This training program significantly improved the performances of participants. It may therefore be applied for general HCWs on a larger scale.