Facial Hair, PPE and COVID-19 (FACIAL HAIR)

October 6, 2020 updated by: Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust

How Has the Increased Use of FFP3 Style Respirators During the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Hospital Doctor's Facial Hair? Implications for Staff Safety and Welfare.

An observational cross sectional questionnaire study looking into facial hair of hospital doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how personal protective equipment guidance has affected this.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

COVID-19 is a highly contagious virus which has caused a global pandemic. There have been significant health consequences for healthcare workers, which may be related to the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE). Following PPE guidance is a significant health and safety concern, under which facial hair guidance for tight fitting masks falls.

This has implications as FFP3 masks are not the only form of PPE for the face, and this study may highlight a need for employers to diversify which PPE they supply to their employees, such as full hoods if staff need to maintain facial hair for cultural or religious reasons.

As such, facial hair has potential implications for patient safety, but also these have to be balanced with personal or religious reasons for maintaining facial hair. Our study aimed to determine the facial hair styles of hospital doctors, and reasons for maintaining them during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also looked at whether these styles adhered to the PPE guidance set about by Public Health England (PHE)

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

358

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
    • Cornwall
      • Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom
        • Royal Cornwall Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

All hospital doctors working at Royal Cornwall Hospital between January 2020 and April 2020.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

All hospital doctors working at the main site at Royal Cornwall Hospital between January and April 2020 were included in the study population. This includes all genders and ethnicities.

Exclusion Criteria:

The principle exclusion criteria were those who did not work at the Royal Cornwall Hospital main site. Also, while not forming part of the exclusion criteria, those who are unable to grow facial hair were excluded from the statistical analyses.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Cohort
  • Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Hospital Doctors
Hospital doctors working at Royal Cornwall Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic
Behavioral: Questionnaire
A single survey questionnaire to staff to report their demographics and facial hair styles between January and April 2020

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in facial hair between January 2020 and during April 2020.
Time Frame: January 2020 and during April 2020.
Our primary outcome measure was change in facial hair between January 2020 (before guidance was circulated in the UK about facial hair), and during April 2020 (after guidance was circulated relating to PPE appropriate facial hair)
January 2020 and during April 2020.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Does facial hair change adhere to the PPE guidance from PHE
Time Frame: January 2020 and during April 2020.
Does facial hair change adhere to the PPE guidance from PHE
January 2020 and during April 2020.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 14, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 8, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

June 8, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 6, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 6, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

October 8, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

October 8, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 6, 2020

Last Verified

June 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 283609

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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