Letter to the Editor: Impact of enhanced personal protective equipment on the physical and mental well-being of healthcare workers during COVID-19

Correspondence to Dr Jonathan Super, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, Maidstone ME16 9QQ, UK; jonathan.super@nhs.net We read with great interest the study by Swaminathan et al, which aimed to determine the effect of personal protective equipment (PPE) on the physical and mental well-being of patient-facing staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.1 It has been widely evidenced that COVID-19 has a profound impact on an individual’s physical and mental well-being,2 yet it is unclear to what extent PPE is a contributing factor. The authors state that ‘the impact on mental well-being was studied with a visual analogue scale (VAS) score of 7 and above for anxiety’. [...]the presented data on physical and mental well-being are derived from subjective factors by self-selected doctors, nurses and other allied health professionals. [...]the wording of the questions included become pertinent to the conclusions that can be drawn, and we would be interested to see the questionnaire that was distributed during the study period.