Assessment of Clinical Laboratory Personnel Protective Equipment Inventory Management During COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines

Abstract

Introduction/ObjectiveCOVID-19 pandemic has brought a worldwide scarcity of personal protective equipment, which prompted medical technologists to explore the inventory management strategies, specifically the maintenance, conservation, and alternative use of personal protective equipment. The study aimed to assess the impact of these strategies on the personal protective equipment shortage in laboratories, as well as identify and describe the clinical laboratory supply and demand of personal protective equipment during the outbreak.Methods/Case ReportThe researchers utilized a quantitative survey involving one hundred thirty-six medical technologists working in an institution-based laboratory of Makati and Taguig City. The collated data were encoded in Microsoft Excel for descriptive statistics containing frequency distribution.Results (if a Case Study enter NA)27.9% of the respondents affirmed that they experienced a shortage of personal protective equipment in their workplace but most were unsure whether the contributing factors caused it. The respondents resorted to inventory management strategies to alleviate their lack of personal protective equipment. However, 41.9% and 38.2% of the respondents were undecided whether the efforts to conserve personal protective equipment and the supply management strategies were effective, respectively. Meanwhile, 40.4% of the respondents agreed that personal protective equipment alternatives can help in mitigating the demand for traditionally manufactured personal protective equipment.ConclusionNonetheless, they were able to utilize inventory management strategies in which they were unsure if conservation and maintenance of personal protective equipment were effective but affirmed with the competency of an alternative use for alleviation.