The Impact of Personal Protective Equipment on Pediatric Procedures

This was a randomized, cross-over, multi-center, simulation-based study to evaluate the impact of various Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) types on the time to successful completion of simulated, life-saving pediatric emergency medical procedures, including chest compression performance recorded from simulation manikins. There were two study arms: a pre-hospital arm, including registered Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers, and a hospital arm, including registered nurses and licensed physicians. Our data suggest that the recommendation from the American Heart Association that compressors switch every 2 minutes during CPR need not be altered in the setting of PPE use. Overall, we found no significant differences in the conduct of procedures by pre-hospital medical providers while wearing PPE. Our findings also suggest that major changes to the planning or execution of most considered routine emergency procedures performed in the hospital setting are not needed when wearing PPE.