Regulatory Requirements | 04.07.20
Joint Commission Issues Statement on Homemade Personal Protective Equipment
By NAMSS Staff
This blog was first published on NAMSS Insights: A Blog for Medical Services Professionals.
On March 31, the Joint Commission released a statement supporting policies that permit healthcare workers to bring their own facemasks or respirators to work if their healthcare facilities cannot provide enough PPE to protect them from COVID-19 risks. The Joint Commission statement recognizes that:
- Hospitals must conserve PPEs during shortages for workers who perform high-risk procedures.
- Privately owned PPE’s full ability to protect hospital workers from COVID-19 is unknown but may provide some degree of protection.
- The Joint Commission does not have standards or regulations prohibiting hospital staff from using homemade PPE.
- Hospital workers should only use homemade masks when standard PPE is unavailable.
Read more about the evidence the Joint Commission used to develop this position.