Hearing and Visual Challenges Of ICU Nurses Due to Protective Equipment in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Personal protective equipment is the most crucial weapon of health workers against COVID 19, which is confirmed by reporting increased infection and death rates in health workers because they could not reach adequate Personal protective equipment. Aims: We planned to conduct a questionnaire study aiming to evaluate the effects that may occur on the hearing and vision abilities of nurses. Design This study investigated the effectiveness of protective equipment for hearing and vision loss in intensive care nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic (N=102) by a survey. Method: The study was applied to the Covid-19 intensive care unit nurses by obtaining their consent via the internet. Results: As a result, 13.7% of the nurses stated that they experienced communication problems due to hearing loss due to protective equipment. In addition, 56.9% of the participants stated that they had difficulty working due to the evaporation caused by the protective equipment. Finally, the rate of the nurses who noted that the protective equipment blocked them from doing their work in cases such as cardiopulmonary arrest was 28.4%. Conclusions: As a result, in our study, it was found that the equipment used in Covid-19 intensive care units caused hearing and visual communication and working difficulties on nurses.