Intermountain has seen a rise in caregiver to caregiver COVID-19 exposures, so please remember: If you’re within six feet of another caregiver, you should wear eye protection. This guideline applies to all caregivers. In addition, caregivers working with patients and visitors should always wear eye protection as an important part of their PPE. Goggles can be worn, but face shields should be your first choice for eye protection.
Face shields are the best practice and provide the needed eye protection. They provide coverage for your mask, allowing you to preserve the mask, and they help decrease the number of times you touch your face.
Here answers to some common questions caregivers have asked the Infection Prevention team about eye protection:
- Do I need to wear eye protection everywhere while I’m in a patient care unit? Yes. Eye protection should be worn at all times in patient care units. We have patients and family members walking in the halls, and this creates risk to anyone entering the patient care areas.
- Do I need to wear eye protection when in contact with patients? Yes. Eye protection should be worn when in contact with all patients and visitors.
- What eye protection should be worn around patients on contact/droplet or patients with respiratory precautions? A face shield should be worn anytime you’re in a droplet precautions room to protect the mask you’re wearing. The face shield should also be worn when doing any aerosolizing procedures or around patients with respiratory precautions.
- What if I need a drink while I’m at the nurse’s station? If you need a drink, you should turn away from others and quickly lift your shield, remove your mask, wash your hands, take a drink, and replace the mask. Then pull the face shield back into place and wash your hands again.
- Do I have to wear eye protection while eating? You should go to the break room and keep more than six feet away from other caregivers while eating. Then you can remove your face shield and mask to eat.
If you have questions about the use of face shields or other eye wear, please contact your local infection preventionist or Employee Health nurse. They can direct you to appropriate PPE and explain why, where, and how these items should be worn to keep you safe.