Personal Protective Equipment Management in Healthcare Settings
Summary
Effective management of personal protective equipment (PPE) is a cornerstone of modern infection prevention and control in healthcare environments. This involves strategic procurement, stockpile maintenance, distribution logistics and routine inventory assessment to ensure uninterrupted access during both routine care and surges in demand. Training in correct donning and doffing protocols, fit testing of respiratory devices and ongoing competency assessments underpin safe practice and reduce self‐contamination risks. Human factors such as ergonomics, thermal comfort and communication barriers influence wearer compliance and performance, prompting ergonomic redesigns and novel materials research. Lifecycle considerations now extend to environmental impact, driving the development of biodegradable and reusable PPE solutions that maintain barrier efficacy while reducing medical waste. Integration of digital tracking systems and predictive modelling enhances supply‐chain resilience and informs targeted resource allocation during epidemics. Ultimately, PPE management is a multidisciplinary endeavour that balances clinical protection, wearer comfort, sustainability and global equity in access.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Personal Protective Equipment Management in Healthcare Settings publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in personal protective equipment management in healthcare settings across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Donning: The process of putting on personal protective equipment in a prescribed sequence to ensure complete coverage and minimise contamination risk.
Doffing: The removal of personal protective equipment following a defined protocol to prevent self‐contamination and environmental spread of pathogens.
Powered Air‐Purifying Respirator (PAPR): A battery‐powered respirator that filters ambient air through a HEPA filter and delivers purified air to the wearer, reducing breathing resistance and heat stress.
Ergonomics: The study of how equipment design interacts with human factors, aiming to optimise comfort, fit and usability to reduce fatigue and errors.
Compliance: The degree to which healthcare workers adhere to prescribed PPE protocols and infection prevention guidelines.
References
- Design and fabrication of a biodegradable face shield by using cleaner technologies for the protection of direct splash and airborne pathogens during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cleaner Engineering and Technology (2023).
- Beyond safety: A design examination of facial PPE in paediatric wards. Design Studies (2024).
- Factors affecting healthcare workers’ compliance with social and behavioural infection control measures during emerging infectious disease outbreaks: rapid evidence review. BMJ Open (2021).
- Limiting factors for wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) in a health care environment evaluated in a randomised study. PLOS ONE (2019).
- Global resource shortages during COVID-19: Bad news for low-income countries. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases (2020).
- Self-contamination during doffing of personal protective equipment by healthcare workers to prevent Ebola transmission. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control (2018).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.