Protecting health care workers from COVID-19: implementing a training programme on personal protective equipment in...

Pakistan's Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, with support from the World Health Organization, developed and implemented the "We Care" programme to protect frontline health care workers engaged in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response.

This paper reports on the training part of the programme, which aimed to train 100 000 frontline health care workers on the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and on the lessons learnt from implementation of the training.

A team of experts developed the curriculum and its accompanying material. Initial training was given to deans of all participating institutions and to master trainers from each university. Staff of all public and private hospitals enrolled in the training and other frontline health care workers were invited to register individually. Four types of educational material were produced and used a guidance booklet, a training video, a set of PowerPoint presentations to explain the PPE and their use, and a poster.

A total of 2000 training sessions were conducted across the country from May to December 2020 and 100 000 frontline health care workers were trained on the use of PPE. Of those trained, 25% were doctors, 35% were nurses and paramedics, and 40% were allied health staff, with an almost equal gender distribution.

With limited resources and over a short period, the We Care programme trained a large number of frontline health care workers, which enhanced their safety and reduced the irrational use of PPE.