Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Personal Protective Equipment Optimization Strategies
Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used every day by healthcare personnel (HCP) to protect themselves, patients, and others when providing care. PPE shortages are currently posing a tremendous challenge to the U.S. healthcare system because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CDC’s optimization strategies for PPE offer a continuum of options for use when PPE supplies are stressed, running low, or absent. Contingency and then crisis capacity measures augment conventional capacity measures and are meant to be considered and implemented sequentially. As PPE availability returns to normal, healthcare facilities should promptly resume standard practices. These concepts include:
- Surge Capacity
- Conventional Capacity
- Contingency Capacity
- Crisis Capacity
Consideration should be given to optimize all health care resources:
For additional face coverings resources click here.
Personal Protective Equipment Burn Rate
The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Burn Rate Calculator excel document is a spreadsheet-based model that will help healthcare facilities plan and optimize the use of PPE for response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Non-healthcare facilities such as correctional facilities may also find this tool useful.
To use the calculator, enter the number of full boxes of each type of PPE in stock (gowns, gloves, surgical masks, respirators, and face shields, for example) and the total number of patients at your facility. The tool will calculate the average consumption rate, also referred to as a “burn rate,” for each type of PPE entered in the spreadsheet. This information can then be used to estimate how long the remaining supply of PPE will last, based on the average consumption rate.
Using the calculator below can help facilities make order projections for future needs.
Click here to download the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Mobile PPE Tracker