“Without Filters” Nurse and Healthcare Worker Personal Protective Equipment Injuries and the COVID-19 Experience: An International Social Media Ethnographic Study

Susan Solmos (), Christine Eisenhauer, Robin Lally and Janet Cuddigan
Additional contact information
Susan Solmos: College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA
Christine Eisenhauer: Independent Researcher, Norfolk, NE 68701, USA
Robin Lally: College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA
Janet Cuddigan: College of Nursing, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: Selfies of nurses and healthcare workers (HCWs) with painful personal protective equipment (PPE) injuries posted to social media provided early warning of the global PPE shortage impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to describe contextual factors associated with these injuries and describe factors that influenced posting on social media. A social media ethnographic study used purposeful sampling of Instagram posts (selfies/text) from March–October 2020 (170 posts; 26 countries). Posts were coded using focused content analysis to identify contextual factors. Data were reduced to understand and interpret the “essence” of the posts and discern themes. Themes included the following: (1) grueling shifts filled with unimaginable loss; (2) faces forever marked by the physical and emotional scars of COVID-19; (3) the COVID-19 battlefront; (4) dire and unprecedented PPE shortages; (5) pervasive fear (for self, colleagues, and family); (6) extreme emotional and physical consequences; (7) creating a collective voice. Examining injuries within the context of the nurses’/HCWs’ experiences provided new insights into the emotional scars, pervasive fears, and extreme emotional and physical consequences. An urgent need exists to address these harms and facilitate recovery. Before addressing emergency preparedness for the next pandemic event, psychosocial support is needed to address the harms incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it is critical to understand past experiences to truly prepare for future pandemics.

Keywords: personal protective equipment; PPE; COVID-19; PPE pressure ulcers/injuries; PPE injuries; nurses’ experiences; healthcare workers’ experiences; social media ethnography; qualitative study; pandemic preparedness; capacity building; respiratory protective devices; N95 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/11/1603/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/11/1603/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:11:p:1603-:d:1776642

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().