Physician Practice

My PPE is backordered--now what? COVID-19 alternate safe practices

Medical Environment Update, May 2, 2020

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Editor’s note: In this guest column, Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, and otherwise known as “Dan, the Lab Safety Man,” discusses the important issues that affect your job every day.

The COVID-19 pandemic is peaking in the United States, and many things are being affected in unprecedented ways. Schools have closed, business travel is banned, gatherings are canceled, and stores are out of … toilet paper. Other supply shortages are peaking as well, and some of the items that have become very hard to get include personal protective equipment (PPE).

Does that mean we can work without it in the laboratory setting? Absolutely not!

Neither OSHA nor any other regulatory agency will put a halt to safety practices that protect workers in any setting. But what if you really can’t get the PPE supplies you need? There are some alternatives.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Medical Environment Update.

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