Penggunaan Alat Perlindungan Diri (APD) Pada Petugas Pemulasaran Jenazah COVID-19 Di Perkuburan Macanda Kabupaten Gowa: The Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for COVID-19 Body Retrieval Officers at Gowa District

Background: The number of cases infected with COVID-19 continues to increase, so it is very necessary to handle Covid-19 cases. One of them is the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) for corpse recovery officers in handling Covid-19 bodies. The purpose of the study was to analyze the impact of the use of PPE on the Covid-19 corpse recovery officers at the Macanda Gowa Cemetery. Methods: This research is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. The number of research is 5 main informants, 2 supporting informants, and 1 key informant. Results: The results of this study showed that the behavior of the mortuary officers was anxious, afraid, worried, had experience in handling Covid-19 corpses, wore personal protective equipment (PPE) for 2-3 hours, burned PPE, removed PPE at the specified location, size The PPE is not suitable for the Covid-19 relocation officer. The impacts of PPE are heat, heat, skin injuries, headaches, dehydration, hot skin (prickly heat), fever, Covid-19 positive, difficulty breathing. Managing the negative impact of using PPE by turning on the air conditioning (AC), opening the windshield, unzipping the hazmat shirt a little, and removing the mask and face shield, smearing the body with eucalyptus oil, cleaning the body, drinking water and exercising. Conclusions and suggestions: The behavior of the Covid-19 corpse recovery officer in using PPE does not comply with the use of personal protective equipment correctly. This is due to the lack of knowledge of the mortuary staff regarding the proper use of PPE. So that the effects of PPE are not correct. There is a need for supervision and awareness-raising on the understanding of the use of PPE for COVID-19 corpses.