Recognised errors in donning and doffing based on literature review that need to be emphasised in training28–30 32–36
| Donning errors | Doffing errors |
| Did not perform hand hygiene before entering the room | Did not use proper glove-in-glove technique for glove removal |
| Did not tie the gown at both the neck and waist | Did not remove gloves first |
| Selected a procedure mask instead of the N95 disposable respirator | Not doffing gloves inside out |
| Did not place mask straps properly | Contamination frequently occurred when the contaminated outside surface of gloves was touched with bare hands during removal. |
| Did not properly seal the mask to the face | The outer gloves were not the first doffing item when untying the outer shoe cover strings first. |
| Did not conduct a seal check | Gloves and/or masks were not placed in the trash hamper |
| Did not use eye protection | Removed potentially contaminated eye protection from the room |
| Glove cuff did not cover gown cuff. | Did not use the foot pedal, but instead touched the hamper lid with bare hand |
| Did not don equipment in the recommended sequence | Did not place all or part of the gown into the designated hamper |
| Gloves were not donned last as part of the donning sequence | Did not use proper mask removal technique |
| Unfamiliarity with PPE items | Touching the outer surface of a gown when rolling it up to reduce its volume after discard |
| Confusion about the wearing order of multilayered PPE items | Did not use wall-mounted hand sanitiser before exiting the room |
| Not tying backstrap of gown | Removed other potentially contaminated items from the room |
| Did not perform hand hygiene after exiting the room | |
| Did not doff equipment in the recommended sequence, for example, doffing gloves first and touching other PPE with bare hands | |
| Touched unprotected areas of the body, which could have resulted in self-contamination | |
| Adjusted the mask in the room, breaking the seal and potentially resulting in self-contamination | |
| Touched surfaces in the room that were unnecessary, which could have resulted in greater contamination of the gloved hands | |
| Difficulty in locating the coverall zipper-slider and pulling it down with gloved hands | |
| Contacting contaminated PPE with bare hands during doffing | |
| Doffing the gown with flourish | |
| Doffing the gown from the front | |
| Not rolling up the gown before disposal | |
| Walking between clean and dirty areas of doffing space | |
| Not completing hand hygiene after each step |