Guidelines for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Health Care Workers Caring for Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Description

Many of the cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) involved physicians and nurses caring for patients with the disease. Proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is required to prevent exposure to this life-threatening viral illness.

Risk levels for transmission:

(1) high

(2) medium

(3) low

Risk Level	Description
high	acute respiratory illness with fever
medium	stable or improving illness, afebrile for 10 days, with cough or nasal oxygen
low	stable, improved, afebrile, with no cough

Significant risk:

(1) patient aerosol formation

(2) aerosol formation related to procedure or therapy

(3) direct personal contact

Aerosol forming activities include:

(1) cough

(2) sneezing

(3) shouting

(4) forceful vomiting

(5) severe diarrhea

Aerosol generating health care activities:

(1) intubation

(2) bronchoscopy

(3) percussion therapy

(4) cough induction

(5) nebulized pharmacotherapy

(6) humidified oxygen

Risk Level	Mask	Gown and Gloves	Face and Eye Protection	Handwashing
high	fitted N95; surgical mass unacceptable	yes	yes	Yes
medium	surgical mask	only if direct contact	only if direct contact	Yes
low	none	standard contact precautions	not required	Yes

An N95 mask that is not fitted or worn properly will offer significantly less protection.

Extreme care must be taken when removing the PPE to avoid self-contamination by contact with the outer surface of the PPE.

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Guidelines for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Health Care Workers Caring for Patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

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