The purpose of this post is to provide a reference guide on how to buy personal protective equipment for any physician or lay person. It is especially intended for family members who live with higher risk people including medical professionals. Further, if you are or your live with someone who is either over 60 or has a health problem, please consider additional personal safety measures for yourself and any household as described below.
We also recommend that only one person in the household run errands such as grocery shopping. All non perishable groceries should remain in garage or separate portion of the home in excess of three days. Any perishable items can be washed or transferred to zip locs while discarding the original packaging. Listed below items 1-5 is what I, someone who lives with and is the relative of a medical professional plans to use --equivalent to Level 1 for essential errands: The following five elements I will implement in the coming days/weeks as our Bay Area "hot zone" nears surge; This is partly to protect my spouse since he is not quarantined in a separate part of the house from me while practicing medicine. I don't want to get him sick from me going to the grocery store.
The below guidance is broken down into the three biological safety risk management levels.
The last two levels are specific to DOCTORS AND FRONTLINE HEALTHCARE WORKERS.
Note: Some items in these links may become sold out but new inventory is always coming online. I suggest keeping a "wish list" where you track the item type and item name and continuously review your personal supply chain a few times each week. You will want to manage it against a 6 week shipping lag/delay calculated with the quantities needed. Physicians can use this guidance in this post to calculate what you need. Please also look in the comments for understanding and assigning your specific Biological safety risk level I-III. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sdouville_medicine-covid-coronavirus-activity-6649721123011473408-ITqm
LEVEL 1 BIOLOGICAL SAFETY PROTECTION: GROCERY STORE ETC. Be careful putting gear on and taking it off. If you touch your face while removing your mask for example, you increase your infection risk. This applies to everything. You want to be extremely mindful and strategic as you don and doff protective gear. 1) Head covers (worn under a hoodie or hat allows you as a lay person to feel less ridiculous) https://www.amazon.com/Disposable-Bouffant-Spun-Bounded-Non-Woven-Hospital/dp/B0725QKTTX/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=hair+cover&qid=1585762052&s=hi&sr=1-2 2) Gloves: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085DFL8DX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 3) Disposable masks https://www.amazon.com/FitinPet-50-Pieces-Disposable/dp/B086M7GBVV/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=tyvek+suit+medium&qid=1585761021&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExSThDMDdEUTdXV1MyJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDM5MTgyMUc1RkhDWk5IMzVNVCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDUzNzAxMU9WS1BHSU5PTlFLMCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= 4) Outfit to be doffed and separated for wash in the garage before coming inside the home. “Arriving home safely” guide is for EVERYONE LAY PEOPLE AND DOCTORS:
5) Goggles: (beyond many peoples' definition of level 1; however the virus is transmissible by eyelashes, facial hair, and hair) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C48RG7C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 6) Men we recommend you shave all facial hair since Coronavirus has been shown to be transmitted by hair. If you can't for religious or some other reason, here are beard covers: https://www.amazon.com/UltraSource-Beard-Latex-Polypropylene-Bouffant/dp/B00MY9GRT8/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=beard+cover&qid=1585787323&rnid=2941120011&s=industrial&sr=1-3 Doctors: Biological Safety BSL 2: All of the above plus the following; Review summary here. Note dates were posted from March 28 buy date; verify shipping dates on per item basis: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sdouville_medicine-covid-coronavirus-activity-6649721123011473408-ITqm Great News! Doctors can bring their own PPE! The leading hospital accreditation agency supports it. Spread the word. Respirators KN95 (the K denotes that it's not U.S. regulated but has rough equivalence to N95) respirator mask https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086H56NDM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Doctors: protective gowns to be worn over scrubs: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086GYD4Y6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Doctors Faceshield: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0863T14LM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Doctors: Scrub cap on top of hair cover: https://smile.amazon.com/Surgical-Bouffant-Medical-Surgeons-Hospital/dp/B086BY9ZRV/ref=sr_1_26_sspa?keywords=scrub+cap&qid=1585762431&s=apparel&sr=1-26-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExQ0hPSE9RTVNWOUFDJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjIxMjcxMVJPVzZCRUhTTU5HMyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDY4MDIyMzFRME1JNThDTEdaVyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX210ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= Doctors: Hood covering to wear with gown https://www.amazon.com/Condor-SinSco-26W858-Pullover-Polyproylene/dp/B01LYU77TP/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=pullover+hood&qid=1585762530&s=hi&sr=1-3 Doctors: coveralls can be worn instead of hood with gown https://www.amazon.com/Disposable-Coveralls-Protective-Microporous-Elastic/dp/B0867LL88B/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=tyvek+suit+medium&qid=1585761061&sr=8-6 Doctors: boot covers can be worn with gown and hood when not wearing coveralls https://www.amazon.com/Dupont-Tyvek-Boot-Covers-Size/dp/B00864W92O/ref=sr_1_28?keywords=tyvek+hood&qid=1585761195&sr=8-2 Doctors: BSL 3: All of the above plus the following; Ask Facility for PAPR https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/All-3M-Products/Safety/Personal-Safety/Personal-Protective-Equipment/Powered-Supplied-Air-Respirators/?N=5002385+8709322+8711017+8711405+8720539+8720547+3294857497&rt=r3
Full Face Mask:
If you cannot 100% trust your facility to plan for and provide the correct number of PAPR or CAPR units, please buy a full face mask:
DOCTORS PLEASE FOLLOW STRICT PROTOCOLS BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER USING PPE. THIS INCLUDES WATCHING BELOW FOR THE NUMBER OF TIMES TO WASH YOUR HANDS IN BOTH THE DONNING AND DOFFING PROCESS SO AS NOT TO INCREASE YOUR RISK
image credit: American Hospital Association
Be EXTREMELY Careful removing protective equipment; this is a high contamination risk move if it's not managed mindfully, exquisitely.
Be safe!
By: Sherri Douville CEO & Board Member at Medigram, Inc. Prior to her current work in the mobile privacy, security, health IT and AI industry, Sherri worked in the medical device industry consulting on the areas of physician acceptance and economic feasibility of medical devices. Prior to that, Sherri worked in Field Marketing, Sales and as a National Sales Trainer for over a decade in over a dozen disease states; including with a variety of respiratory infections and treatment. During that time, she leveraged her multi-disciplinary STEM background to help physicians understand the microbiology behind the sensitivity and effectiveness of specific and different pathogens to a range of anti-infective agents Dr. Art Douville, CMO at Medigram and Attending Neurologist. In addition to practicing Neurology, Dr. Art Douville has held several leadership and administrative positions in healthcare including helping physicians understand and leverage the data by which they're measured. He also has experience as a hospital Chief Medical Officer for two separate health systems. He oversaw both infection control and biohazard governance in hospital environments. Dr. Douville has expertise in clinical integration and was recently Regional Vice President/ Chief Medical Officer at Verity Health System. In this position, Dr. Douville oversaw physician relations, patient safety & quality, regulatory compliance, and the development of innovative clinical programs. He was part of the leadership team to spearhead bundled payment and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) initiatives. Dr. Douville has over a decade of experience leading physician culture and developing leadership, performance improvement, regulatory compliance, clinical process design and implementation, as well as physician alignment.