A trained observer watched health care personnel enter and leave rooms with patients. These were isolation rooms as to not spread germs. The observations took place in October 2014.
According to the CDC, workers are meant to first take off gloves and then gently remove their gown from the back, all while in the isolation room.
About 30 health care workers were observed and the results revealed 17 removed the gown out of order, 16 wore the protective garment into the hallway and 15 did not remove their garments gently, which could increase the risk of spreading germs.
“As a result of the current Ebola outbreak, the critical issue of proper [protective garment] removal has come front and center,” said the study authors.
“Healthcare facilities should use this opportunity of heightened interest to undertake practice improvement focused on [protective garments] removal protocol, including technique, for all healthcare-associated conditions that require the donning and doffing of [protective garments].”
The findings were published in the American Journal of Infection Control.