Pharmacy Daily | Don’t waste PPE: PSA

PHARMACY staff using personal protective equipment (PPE) must not treat it as "a fashion accessory", TerryWhite Chemmart Professional Practice Manager, Chris Campbell, says, with other health professionals rationing their supplies.

Speaking on Wed night's Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) COVID-19 webinar, Campbell, said the current guidance on the use of PPE was that "where the contact time is under 15 minutes and there is a low amount of touching, it's not necessary".

"I'm not saying, 'pharmacists don't wear it', but to be cognisant of the current recommendations," he said.

"If you're going to wear it you've got to be spot on with how you do it, because we are being viewed by some healthcare workers who would be working in a hospital, who are having to ration their PPE.

"Yes we need to protect ourselves and take the advice, but if we're wearing it, we can't touch it, we've got to hand sanitse prior to putting it on, [because] if we touch it, we compromise it."

Campbell, told the webinar that he had received a call from a theatre nurse, who was "irate" after visiting one of the group's pharmacies.

"She thought the pharmacy team were wearing the masks as a fashion accessory," he said.

"She said, 'I saw them touching it multiple times, they didn't have it fit properly'.

"She said that in her work they had to ration them... that she was at risk, her patients were at risk and she knew that people in hospital would die because they [hospital staff] didn't have access to PPE, but she saw it wasted in a pharmacy."

Commenting on the use of PPE for pharmacist immunisers, Campbell noted that despite the inevitable close patient contact, the advice was that it was "still not recommended", as consultations were generally under 15 minutes.

"The best thing you can do in those scenarios is have strong screening tools," he said.

"We'd recommend that anyone who has a booking system [for vaccinations] to reinforce that on the booking form and on the reminder messages to patients, that if they have symptoms to book again at another time."

Campbell added that the advice for the general public was that they did not need to wear PPE unless they were unwell or were suspected of having contracted COVID-19.