key: cord-0786556-fzbwul8u
authors: Fenn, Dominic; Coppel, Jonny; Kearney, Jessica; Everson, Lucy; Braithwaite, Simon; Chodhari, Rahul
title: Walkie talkies to aid health care workers’ compliance with personal protective equipment in the fight against COVID-19
date: 2020-07-13
journal: Crit Care
DOI: 10.1186/s13054-020-03150-8
sha: f107b420dd8494214db7de68cc5f84e480bd4086
doc_id: 786556
cord_uid: fzbwul8u

nan

Firstly, phones and pagers are difficult to access or cannot be used due to contamination risk. Secondly, staff must remove PPE when moving from one clinical area to another. This both delays communication and serves as an additional drain on precious PPE resources [1] .

What can be done? One approach is to use walkie talkies. Liew et al. draw attention to their use in Singapore [3] . They provide a quick, resource-efficient and effective means of communicating and may provide a solution. At our charity, Asthma Innovation Research (AIR), we recognised the potential of walkie talkies through the team's personal experience and have subsequently supplied over 75 hospitals across the UK. Nevertheless, while they have several attributes that make them suitable for use during the current pandemic, there are limitations that must be acknowledged and addressed (Tables 1 and 2) . For example, one of the most attractive advantages is also the biggest shortcoming: Commercially available walkie talkies are licencefree and are not dependent on pre-existing telecommunication infrastructure. Therefore, they can be rapidly deployed with no additional costs and allow for timely integration into practice. However, this makes them vulnerable to data breach as the channel may be disrupted by non-health care professionals. Thankfully, awareness of this issue and proactive mitigation can significantly reduce this risk ( Table 2 ). Although walkie talkies may not be a perfect system, they provide a much needed immediate solution. However, preparations for further pandemics should be made, addressing these limitations ( Table 2) .

Adherence to correct IPC guidance is crucially important during the current pandemic, in addition to effective communication. Walkie talkies are a potential method of enabling timely, coordinated and safe care for patients, while also protecting patients and staff.

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Barriers and facilitators to healthcare workers' adherence with infection prevention and control (IPC) guidelines for respiratory infectious diseases: a rapid qualitative evidence synthesis

Preparing for COVID-19: early experience from an intensive care unit in Singapore

Failure modes and effect analysis to develop transfer protocols in the management of COVID-19 patients

Authors' contributions DF drafted and conceptualised the main letter. JC, JK and LE re-drafted and proof-read contents of the letter and table. SB and RC proof-read the contents of the letter and table. The authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate Not applicable

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare in relation to the content of this letter.Author details