PPE training should prepare a nurse to select and use the equipment required for an actual task. A completion certificate is useful documentation, but the practical test is whether the nurse can explain the equipment's purpose, use it correctly and recognize when it is unsuitable.
Training should use the products supplied in the workplace. A demonstration with one gown, glove or face-protection design may leave questions when the stocked product changes.
Connect the equipment with the hazard
Begin with the task and expected exposure. Ask which parts of the body need protection, which equipment the organization has selected and what additional precautions apply.
CDC's core practices call for job-specific infection-prevention training before personnel perform their duties, with at least annual refreshers and additional instruction when new threats or lapses are identified. That is a broader infection-prevention recommendation, not a claim that every OSHA PPE provision has the same annual schedule.
For equipment covered by the federal general PPE training provision, employees must understand when and what PPE is needed, how to use it, its limitations and its care or disposal. They must demonstrate the relevant understanding and ability before performing work requiring it.
Use a practical demonstration
A useful local assessment can ask the learner to:
- Identify the equipment for a named task and explain the selection.
- Inspect it and choose an appropriate fit.
- Put it on and adjust it using the applicable instructions.
- Explain the limits of its protection.
- Remove it through the task-specific procedure and handle it appropriately afterward.
- Locate replacements and describe how to report a problem.
This is a training design checklist, not a universal sequence for donning and removing every type of PPE. The procedure must match the equipment, exposure and facility guidance.
Include the difficult moments
Practice questions that arise during work: a torn glove, a gown that does not fit, eyewear that interferes with other equipment or an unfamiliar substitute supplied overnight.
The learner should know whom to contact and what approved alternative is available. “Use whatever is on the shelf” leaves the hazard assessment unresolved.
Respirators require their own respiratory protection program, including the appropriate evaluation, training and fit-testing arrangements. General PPE instruction does not replace those requirements.
Retrain when the work changes
The federal general PPE provision identifies changed workplace conditions, changed equipment and inadequate retained knowledge or skill as reasons for retraining within its scope.
Review the cause of a repeated problem as well as the individual demonstration. Missing sizes, unavailable supplies or confusing disposal arrangements may require an operational change alongside instruction.
Record the task, equipment, demonstrated skills and any follow-up needed. Give staff access to current instructions where the work occurs. Coordinate with infection prevention and employee health so the training reflects both patient protection and worker exposure risks.
Sources
- 29 CFR 1910.132: General PPE requirements and training (accessed 2026-09-17).
- CDC: Core infection prevention and control practices (accessed 2026-09-17).
- 29 CFR 1910.134: Respiratory protection training (accessed 2026-09-17).