Impact of Hospital Inventory Management of PPE on State-Level Healthcare Worker Infections during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the personal protective equipment (PPE) supply chain and its inability to keep up with the fluctuating demands of a global pandemic. Limited research examines the resilience of the PPE supply chain in times of stress, and very few studies rely on quantitative retrospective analysis. This dissertation studies the impact of hospital inventory management, a portion of PPE supply chain preparedness, on infections in healthcare workers (HCWs). Our research shows that there exists a statistically significant negative relationship between PPE preparedness and infections for HCWs, but this relationship is only significant for N95 masks, surgical masks, and gloves. This suggests the importance of hospital inventory management of PPE in the prevention of infections for HCWs is not equal for all types of PPE and in times of stress, practitioners may be able to focus on the elements of PPE that prevent infection