Determinants of Clinical Nurses’ Compliance with Use of Personal Protective Equipment

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated compliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) use and aimed to identify the determinants of PPE compliance among clinical nurses after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This descriptive correlational study included 203 nurses working at five general and tertiary hospitals in Korea. Data were collected from September 10 to 20, 2024 using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance with the Scheffé post-hoc test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression.

Results: The average scores were 4.29/5, 5.39/7, 4.19/5, and 4.58/5 for attitudes toward PPE, organizational culture of infection control, safety climate, and PPE compliance, respectively. PPE compliance was positively correlated with attitudes toward PPE (r=.56), organizational culture of infection control (r=.57), and all four subdomains of safety climate-availability of PPE (r=.50), absence of job hindrances (r=.41), training (r=.52), and cleanliness and orderliness (r=.35). The factors that significantly influenced PPE compliance were PPE availability (β=.27, p<.001), organizational culture of infection control (β=.26, p=.001), and attitudes toward PPE (β=.14, p=.028). The model explained 51.9% of the variance in PPE compliance (F=16.42, p<.001).

Conclusion: These findings suggest that improving PPE compliance requires systematic education, interventions to strengthen organizational feedback and communication systems, and the provision of appropriate, consistently available, and user-friendly PPE.