4.10 Personal Protective Equipment Policy and Procedure

Choice Community Health uses Personal Protective Equipment in accordance to its Health and Safety policy and procedure during the provision of services and the execution of activities covered in Infection Control, Assistance with Activities of Daily Living, Waste Management, Medication Management, and Pandemic policies and procedures.

Policy

Choice Community Health will provide staff with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) appropriate for the situation and intended use. Choice Community Health assesses the requirement for PPEs for relevant activities in accordance with its Risk Management policy and procedure. Choice Community Health ensures that appropriate PPEs are available for use and staff is trained on how to use them.

Procedure

PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) help with decreasing the impact of any relevant risk to staff or client’s health and safety.

The usage of PPEs depends on the activity and its respective Risk Assessment. If the PPEs are deemed to be mandatory in the Risk Assessment, they must be worn.

Inventory, Usage and Disposal

Choice Community Health will maintain an inventory of required PPEs as per their usage requirements and frequency of use. Care Manager is responsible for determining the minimum available inventory that should be available for use, procurement and selection of new PPEs when required. The inventory and quality details are reviewed by the Directors as well. The inventory details are as follows:

All PPEs related to clinical activities are disposed as clinical waste. Other PPEs are disposed as per their nature of use or material.

Choice Community Health uses the following PPEs regularly in its activities:

Gloves

Gloves are worn to protect an individual's hands from any contact with microbes. They are not a replacement for handwashing. Gloves do not need to be worn unless there is a risk of the transmission of microbes. Basic procedures such as making a bed, assisting a client to dress, combing a client’s hair or feeding them do not require the wearing of gloves.

If there is a risk of transmission of microbes, such as when changing an incontinence pad, shaving a client with a blade razor, performing wound care or wiping a client’s nose with a tissue, then gloves must be worn.

All gloves are single-use and disposable. They are worn for the procedure and then discarded in the general waste bin. The home care worker must wash their hands with soap and water, and dry them with a paper towel, after they remove their gloves. There is no need for sterile gloves to be used by home care workers in home care. Gloves can be clinically clean gloves.

It is important that the correct size gloves are worn. Gloves should be slightly loose on the hand and not too tight that the glove material is under tension. Thicker kitchen style gloves should be used if there is a risk of puncturing the glove. This includes picking up broken glass or crockery.

Protective Eyewear

Protective eyewear is commonly used to reduce the risk of any hazardous substances entering the eyes.

Protective eyewear must be worn in any situation where there is a risk of any hazardous substance being splashed into the home care workers’ eyes.

Protective eyewear can include goggles, protective glasses and protective eye shields. The type of eyewear will depend upon the individual situation