Credit CDC
# 9225
The updated CDC guidance on donning and doffing PPEs when working with suspected or confirmed Ebola cases - which we previewed last night (see CDC Announces Stricter PPE Recommendations For Ebola) - is fleshed out in the following document posted overnight on the CDC’s Ebola web portal.
When you return you’ll find a short listing of non-CDC online resources (listed on the CDC site) with experience dealing with Ebola.
Guidance on Personal Protective Equipment To Be Used by Healthcare Workers During Management of Patients with Ebola Virus Disease in U.S. Hospitals, Including Procedures for Putting On (Donning) and Removing (Doffing)
On this Page
- Recommended Administrative and Environmental Controls for Healthcare Facilities
- Principles of PPE
- Training on Correct Use of PPE
- Use of a Trained Observer
- Designating Areas for PPE Donning and Doffing
- Selection of PPE for Healthcare Workers during Management of Ebola Patients
- Recommended Personal Protective Equipment
- Recommended PPE for Trained Observer during Observations of PPE Doffing
- Preparing for Doffing
This guidance is current as of October 20, 2014
The following procedures provide detailed guidance on the types of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be used and on the processes for donning and doffing (i.e., putting on and removing) PPE for all healthcare workers entering the room of a patient hospitalized with Ebola virus disease (Ebola). The guidance in this document reflects lessons learned from the recent experiences of U.S. hospitals caring for Ebola patients and emphasizes the importance of training, practice, competence, and observation of healthcare workers in correct donning and doffing of PPE selected by the facility.
This guidance contains the following key principles:
- Prior to working with Ebola patients, all healthcare workers involved in the care of Ebola patients must have received repeated training and have demonstrated competency in performing all Ebola-related infection control practices and procedures, and specifically in donning/doffing proper PPE.
- While working in PPE, healthcare workers caring for Ebola patients should have no skin exposed.
- The overall safe care of Ebola patients in a facility must be overseen by an onsite manager at all times, and each step of every PPE donning/doffing procedure must be supervised by a trained observer to ensure proper completion of established PPE protocols.
In healthcare settings, Ebola is spread through direct contact (e.g., through broken skin or through mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, or mouth) with blood or body fluids of a person who is sick with Ebola or with objects (e.g., needles, syringes) that have been contaminated with the virus. For all healthcare workers caring for Ebola patients, PPE with full body coverage is recommended to further reduce the risk of self-contamination.
To protect healthcare workers during care of an Ebola patient, healthcare facilities must provide onsite management and oversight on the safe use of PPE and implement administrative and environmental controls with continuous safety checks through direct observation of healthcare workers during the PPE donning and doffing processes.
External (Non-CDC) Resources on PPE
- Emory Healthcare: Ebola Preparedness Protocols
- University of Nebraska Medical Center: PPE for Ebola
- Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders): Filovirus Haemorrhagic Fever Guideline, 2008[PDF - 134pages]
- World Health Organization (WHO): Infection prevention and control guidance for care of patients in health-care settings, with focus on Ebola
