Personal Protective Equipment for Protecting Healthcare Staff during COVID-19 Outbreak: A Narrative Review

Context: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic state as the coronavirus spread across the world. Personal protective equipment (PPE) has become a critical subject during the COVID-19 outbreak. It is necessary to prevent coronavirus transmission to healthcare workers (HCWs) as providing care. They are at high risk of exposure to coronavirus. The aim of this study was to provide a brief review of some routes of transmission of COVID-19, what, when and why PPE is recommended base on the route of transmission. Evidence acquisition: In this review, articles were extracted from the Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed search engines. The main keywords for search were coronavirus, COVID-19, personal protective PPE, healthcare, transmission, contact, and protect. Results: Findings showed the COVID-19 transmission rate in the HCWs that wore PPE significantly decreased. All HCWs must use appropriate and adequate PPE in order to minimize the COVID-19 transmission. Conclusion: Although still uncertainty remains around COVID-19 transmission and it is early to have conclusion on its prevention, most of recommendations and guidance have emphasized to apply the PPE during COVID-19 outbreak among HCWs.