Personal Protective Equipment

What is personal protective equipment?

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a catchall term for clothes or gear that can protect you from potential harm. Healthcare relies heavily on PPE. It protects both those providing and receiving medical care alike. Understanding medical and nonmedical PPE types can help you better protect yourself and those around you.

When you receive medical care, it’s likely your provider will wear some type of PPE, like gloves or a mask. But PPE doesn’t just protect the wearer. It’s also there to protect you. For example, if your provider just bandaged a nasty skin infection on another person, they won’t keep wearing the same gloves. They’ll take them off, wash or sanitize their hands and then put on a fresh, clean pair before caring for you.

But PPE also includes specialized equipment, too. Many types of PPE are fitted to the wearer or require special training to use.

Specific forms or types of medical PPE include:

• Face and breathing protection
• Gloves
• Body coverings and protection

Face and breathing protection

Face protection items include:

• Face masks. These are simple coverings for the nose and mouth and are good for most basic situations. These masks are the kind you might wear during flu season or that a provider might wear during an office visit. They look a lot like surgical masks, but aren’t always quite the same.
• Surgical masks. These are like face masks but come in different thicknesses and filtering levels. They have to meet stricter standards than face masks (in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration sets these).
• Eye protection. Face shields and goggles can provide a physical protective barrier for the eyes.
• Filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs). These come in different types and filtration levels. Examples include N95s or powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs). They need fitting because they’re supposed to form an airtight seal around the nose and mouth. Some even have built-in eye protection like goggles or clear faceplates.

Gloves

Not all medical gloves are alike. They range from simple exam gloves to sterile surgical gloves. They can also include heavier gloves for handling certain medications or chemicals.

Body coverings and protection

These range from scrubs to other types of garments or equipment. But some specific types of protective coverings include:

• Aprons. These can be disposable or reusable, with different materials for different situations.
• Gowns. These come in many varieties, like surgical and nonsurgical gowns. They’re common in hospital and clinic settings.
• Coveralls. These provide much more coverage and protection than aprons or gowns.
• Foot coverings. These range from disposable shoe covers to boots that resist fluids or chemicals.
• Head coverings. Some PPE items are built into larger head coverings like hoods. They protect the entire head from germs and fluids.

What are the types of PPE precautions?

Experts often organize types of PPE into transmission-based precautions. That means different types of PPE are necessary depending on how a condition spreads.

Gloves are standard across all levels of precautions. Face masks and surgical masks are also common, depending on the situation. The specific types of transmission-based precautions are:

• Bloodborne
• Contact
• Droplet
• Airborne

Bloodborne precautions

Bloodborne precautions are common across a wide range of medical scenarios. Providers will use gloves for these situations, but can also use other items depending on the specifics of the case. They include:

• Masks
• Eye and face protection
• Body protection, like aprons or gowns
• Equipment to safely handle/dispose of sharp objects

Contact precautions

Contact precautions are for conditions that spread person-to-person or via objects or surfaces. Gloves and disposable gowns are the standard items for contact precautions. If a provider needs to use a common tool like a stethoscope, they’ll use a single-use disposable version.

Contact precautions are for conditions like:

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections
• Gastrointestinal illnesses like norovirus or Clostridioides difficile (C. diff)
• Other common wound or skin infections

Providers may also wear additional protection if they could come into contact with bodily fluids.

Droplet precautions

Droplet precautions stop droplets you make when you cough, sneeze, breathe or talk. Conditions that need droplet precautions include infectious diseases like influenza or COVID-19. Droplet precaution PPE includes:

• Other face and eye protection, like surgical masks, face shields or goggles
• Body protection, including gowns, aprons, coveralls, etc
• Foot protection, like boots or shoe coverings

Airborne precautions

These are the strictest transmission-based precautions. They guard against germs that can survive for extended periods in the air or on surfaces. Airborne precautions include:

• Specially fitted breathing protection like FFRs
• Eye and face protection
• Body coverings, like aprons, coveralls or disposable gowns
• Foot protection like boots or shoe covers

Examples of conditions that need airborne precautions include:

• Bacterial diseases like tuberculosis or anthrax
• Viral diseases like measles or certain highly contagious forms of herpes zoster (shingles)

What are some types of nonmedical PPE?

Outside of medical settings, using PPE can prevent serious injuries or illnesses. Some examples of nonmedical PPE include items for protecting your:

• Breathing. These filter out tiny particles (like from carpentry, digging or mining). They can also block toxic fumes (like from paint or chemicals).
• Body parts vulnerable to blunt force injuries. These include helmets or reinforced boots to protect your feet from heavy objects.
• Hearing. This includes earplugs or other items that protect your hearing from loud noises.
• Eyes. One example is shielding eyewear like welders wear to prevent retinal burns. Other examples include impact-resistant glasses or shields to stop flying debris.
• Food. Items like hairnets and gloves stop the spread of many illnesses that can spread via food.

Some forms of PPE are very specific to certain hazards. Examples include:

• Heat-resistant clothing and turnout gear worn by firefighters
• Electricity-stopping items like rubber gloves
• Ripstop garments to protect against fast-moving machinery like chainsaws
• Chemical-resistant garments and gear used around toxic spills or similar events
• Military-grade protective equipment, like Mission-Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) gear

Many other types of nonmedical PPE exist, depending on the specific type of work or activity involved. Local or national government agencies may be able to help you learn more, depending on your needs.