The topic of PPE is first introduced at traditional mass lecture, and then reinforced at the skills lab practice with a guided checklist for donning and removing PPE.  Each student is provided with a set of full PPE (surgical mask, N-95 mask, latex gloves, hair cover, eye shield, protective gown) ordered to take home for self practice.  Students are encouraged to arrange their own time to view VCD on PPE uploaded on the School homepage by self study, before the formal assessment exercise to all Year 1 nursing students at least a month before the clinical placement schedule.

 Initial feedback from clinical faculties reflected areas of improvement are summarized, where the three most frequent observations are:  Gown not covering well (expose neck/back); Forgot step(s) of handwashing (during gowning); and Contaminated items in contact with own body during degowning.

 Focused group interview on students’ perceived readiness preparation from this teaching and learning of PPE assessment will be evaluated from 3 cohorts of students: (1) Year 1 students [who have never been exposed to hospital clinical placement]; (2) Year 2 and Year 3 students [who have clinical experience in hospital setting with prior PPE mandatory assessment]; (3) Year 4 students [who have not gone through mandatory PPE assessment in their curriculum].