Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar:118:103583.
doi: 10.1016/j.midw.2022.103583. Epub 2022 Dec 27.

Personal protective equipment: Analysis of supply among midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru

Natalia Valverde-Espinoza  1 , John Barja-Ore  2 , Mirian Solis Rojas  3 , Margarita Pérez-Silva  4 , Rocío Herrera-Málaga  5 , Lizardo Huamán Angulo  6 , Brenda Rodríguez López  3
Affiliations

Personal protective equipment: Analysis of supply among midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru

Natalia Valverde-Espinoza et al. Midwifery. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: To report the details of provision of personal protective equipment to midwives during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru METHODS: This is a non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional study. An online survey of 679 midwives working at public healthcare centres was conducted via questionnaires. The following aspects were outlined: method of supply and frequency of delivery of personal protective equipment, type of personal protective equipment provided by the institution, and self-purchase. Furthermore, features of the midwives' workplace were described. For statistical analysis, absolute frequencies and relative proportions were used for categorical variables, and mean and standard deviation were used for numerical variables.

Measurements and findings: The most important finding of this study is that a large proportion of midwives (66.6%) did not receive new personal protective equipment for each shift; 41.9% of midwives who received personal protective equipment during each shift exclusively provided services in the COVID-19 ward, whereas 27.6% did not. The least received supplies were of N95 respirator masks (41.7%) and disposable isolation suit gown (50.5%). Only a certain proportion of midwives (38.6%) were trained by their own institutions on the use of personal protective equipment.

Key conclusions: The provision of personal protective equipment to midwives and training on personal protective equipment were insufficient at all workplaces. Therefore, measures must be taken to increase the supply of this material to midwives who are essential workers in reproductive health.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health services; Midwifery; Personal protective equipment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The autors declare that we have no conflicto of interest

References

    1. Ağalar C., Öztürk Engin D. Protective measures for COVID-19 for healthcare providers and laboratory personnel. Turk. J. Med. Sci. 2020;50(SI-1):578–584. doi: 10.3906/sag-2004-132. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahmed J., Malik F., Bin Arif T., Majid Z., Chaudhary M.A., Ahmad J., Malik M., Khan T.M., Khalid M. Availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) Among US and pakistani doctors in COVID-19 pandemic. Cureus. 2020;12(6):e8550. doi: 10.7759/cureus.8550. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aranaz Andrés J.M., Gea Velázquez de Castro M.T., Vicente-Guijarro J., Beltrán Peribáñez J., García Haro M., Valencia-Martín J.L., Bischofberger Valdés C. Grupo de Trabajo COVID-19 del Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, & Grupo de Trabajo COVID-19 del Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal. J. Healthc. Qual. Res. 2020;35(4):245–252. doi: 10.1016/j.jhqr.2020.06.001. Mascarillas como equipo de protección individual durante la pandemia de COVID-19: cómo, cuándo y cuáles deben utilizarse. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Armendáriz P., Sierra S. La crisis de los equipos de protección individual en la pandemia por la COVID-19 y el Instituto Nacional de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo. Rev. Esp. Salud Públ. 2021;95 https://www.mscbs.gob.es/biblioPublic/publicaciones/recursos_propios/res... Disponible en. - PubMed
    1. Boškoski I., Gallo C., Wallace M.B., Costamagna G. COVID-19 pandemic and personal protective equipment shortage: protective efficacy comparing masks and scientific methods for respirator reuse. Gastrointest. Endosc. 2020;92(3):519–523. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2020.04.048. - DOI - PMC - PubMed