Impacts of Personal Protective Equipment Utilisation on Prevention of Coronavirus Among Healthcare Workers in Kwara State, Nigeria
Authors:   Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, Ibrahim Kperogi Ismaila , Abubakar Baba Dare ,   Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, Tosin Jamiu Abdulqudus ,   Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, Ibrahim Ologele ,   Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, Onaolapo Abdulrasaq Qazeem ,   Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria, Bukola Abdullahi Muhammed ,   Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Published: November 2023

This study examined impacts of personal protective equipment (PPE) utilization on prevention of coronavirus (Covid-19) among healthcare workers in Kwara State Nigeria. PPE means personal protective equipment, which are devices designed to protect healthcare workers from contracting infectious diseases, during treatment of patients with the threaded pandemic Covid-19 infection. These instruments can be hand gloves, nose masks, protective foot wears, among others. However, effect of none-utilization of these devices can be devastating particularly among HCWs treating corona virus patients because of it’s volatile nature of transmission through airborne and contacts. The objective of this study is to determine if HCWs perceive that utilization of PPE has effects towards the prevention of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Kwara State Nigeria. Descriptive research design of the survey type was used for this study. The instrument used was a researchers’ structured questionnaire, which was validated by three experts in the field of Health Education. Multistage sampling procedure was used to sample 230 HCWs from Kwara State Government Owned Hospitals, for this study. The instrument was then subjected to test re-test method of reliability and analyzed by Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC), which yielded 0.81r, showing that the instrument was reliable enough for the study. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency count, simple percentage and inferential statistics of Chi-square (χ2), at 0.05 alpha level. Results revealed that: HCWs significantly perceived that utilization of PPE has impact on prevention of COVID-19 in Kwara State Nigeria, with a calculated χ2 value of 146.174 which is greater than the critical table value of 43.773. It was concluded that: HCWs perceived that utilization of PPE has impact on prevention of COVID-19 in Kwara State Nigeria. It was however recommended that government should increase training of HCWs through seminars and workshops. More so, Government should provide and enforce adequate use of PPE to be used by HCWs against COVID-19 infection in Kwara State Nigeria.