The percentage of nurses who were always provided
with safety goggles, fluid-impermeable gowns/aprons,
surgical masks with eye protection, and masks for
CPR ranged from 68% to 86% (Table 1). For all nurses
combined (ie, those who were and were not always
provided with the equipment), only 20%-45% always
used PPE in the scenarios involving safety goggles, a
fluid-impermeable apron, and a surgical mask with
eye protection (Table 2). Approximately 20% of the
nurses did not use the equipment because they did
not have it with them at the visit, 15% did not use it because
they did not consider the procedure to be risky
(for irrigating a deep wound and for cleaning up large
amounts of bloody diarrhea), and 10% did not use it
because it was not provided by their employer. For irrigating
a deep wound, 5% of the nurses did not wear
safety goggles because they wore glasses, either because
they thought that the glasses provided sufficient
protection or because they could not see well with goggles
over the glasses (data not shown). Several responses
indicated that use of PPE in the specified
scenario was not in accordance with the policy or protocol
of the home care agency