Barriers to nurses’ compliance with personal protective equipment during outbreaks of novel corona viruses’

Abstract

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) are severe respiratory diseases caused by novel coronavirus, which can lead to severe respiratory problems (WHO, 2019). The majority of these infections’ outbreaks occurred in health care facilities. Moreover, transmission of MERS CoV infection was reported from patients to healthy individuals, especially in institutions where infection-control measures were not adequately applied (WHO, 2019). There are many proposed causes for corona viruses’ transmission. For instance, one route of MERS CoV transmission is through the exposure to asymptomatic infected healthcare workers (HCWs) (Memish et al., 2013). Another factor is the prolonged exposure of nurses to MERS CoV patients (Memish et al., 2013). Memish and colleagues stated that poor compliance to infection control standards could augment the infection transmission within healthcare organisations (Memish et al., 2013).