MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT


Manage Your PPE Supply Effectively during the Pandemic T


he COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world in myriad ways. The health- care supply chain was not an exception and experienced major disruptions


■ this


past year. When the pandemic hit the US last spring, healthcare facilities had a hard time procuring personal protective equip- ment (PPE) and cleaning and disinfecting materials. In a paper released in July 2020, the National Safety Council (NSC) out- lined several reasons for the plummeting PPE supply.


According to the NSC, one of the


most significant reasons that the US faced a shortage of PPE was that China was manufacturing and supplying nearly half of the world’s masks before the pandemic. The virus hit China a few months before it hit the US, so the country stopped exporting masks. In addition, China sourced many component materials for surgical and N95 masks and stopped sourcing those as well. Consequently, countries other than China that manufactured masks saw their production come to a grinding halt. Supplies of disposable rubber gloves


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also experienced disruptions. According to the NSC, Malaysia, the highest producer of medical gloves, was unable to ship its gloves to their final destinations because half of its workforce was out due to COVID-19 and manufacturers were confronted with a dearth of shipping boxes. To balance out the supply and demand chain, the US Food & Drug Administra- tion (FDA) eased the guidelines on using expired gloves and the National Insti- tute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released guidelines on reusing N95 masks. In addition, domestic man- ufacturers increased their production of N95 masks.


While we continue to battle the


pandemic, the availability of PPE has increased compared to when the virus first hit the US. To avoid another dearth of PPE, the NSC suggests:


ASC FOCUS MARCH 2021 | ascfocus.org


Michael J. Patterson, RN, CASC President of ASCA’s Board of Directors


■ making sure ■


closely tracking PPE burn rates, expira- tion dates and usage metrics to manage your supply effectively;


maintaining a PPE-vendor network and


each vendor in


your network is credible and meets compliance standards; and


investing in technology to supplement supply shortages, such as 3D printing, to manufacture your own PPE and then apply for NIOSH certification. Like PPE, supply chain issues also


affected cleaning and disinfecting mate- rials. As the pandemic hit, disinfectant sales went up more than 200 percent com- pared to the previous year and multipur- pose cleaner sales went up more than 100 percent, according to the NSC. The sud- den increase in demand created a supply shortage. To expedite production, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adjusted its approval policy for new sup- pliers/manufacturers of key ingredients for disinfectants and cleaners. To avoid another such shortage, the


NSC suggests: ■


identifying alternative suppliers for cleaning and disinfecting products, preferably ones with a diverse source of raw materials;


■


determining surfaces that are low-touch and, therefore, could be cleaned with soap and water versus surfaces that are high- touch and need to be disinfected; and


■


developing home remedies for commer- cially available disinfectants, such as alcohol solutions and bleach water. Every ASC needs to continue being prudent and safe in 2021. Our communities need us to be the best we can be.


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