2019 Volume 34 Issue 1 Pages 40-44
It is essential for midwives to protect their faces using personal protective equipment, such as face shields, during childbirth assistance in order to prevent occupational infections. The purpose of this study was to investigate blood exposure to the face shield used by midwives during childbirth assistance and to clarify the risk of blood exposure to the face in association with characteristics of the delivery. There were 161 vaginal deliveries during the study period, of which face shields worn during labor in 70 cases were collected (collection rate 43.5%).
Blood exposure was observed on all face shields (100%), and the average exposure score was 26.6 (SD 20.1, range 5-125). The blood exposure score by area were as follows: mask area was 18.6 (SD 17.0, range 0-116), periocular area was 2.8 (SD 17.0, range 0-22), forehead area was 3.3 (SD 3.7, range 0-17), right side was 2.7 (SD 4.2, range 0-20), and the left side was 1.1 (SD 1.9, range 0-10). The mean duration of wearing the face shields by midwives was 41.5 minutes (SD 30.5, range 11-141), and blood exposure was detected even for the shortest duration of 11 minutes. Multiple regression analysis was performed with the blood exposure score as a dependent variable, whereas the independent variables were the presence/absence of perineal incision, amount of bleeding until third delivery, infant weight, and duration of wearing the face shield. Based on the results of the analysis, episiotomy was found to be significantly associated with the blood exposure score (p < 0.05). Altogether, in this study, it was revealed that the risk of exposure to blood on the face was very high, as blood exposure was detected on all the face shields collected in this study. Altogether, we conclude that facial protection must be practiced as a standard precaution during delivery in order to reduce the risk of occupational infections.
