Effectiveness of Cloth Mask Washing Methods in Reducing Hospital Infection Risk

Name Professor Course Code Date Review of a Journal Article Information Literacy Assignment Describe the subject of this article. What is the topic of this study? “Contamination and washing of cloth masks and risk of infection among hospital health workers in Vietnam” What is/are the variable(s) of the data? The study encompasses both independent and dependent variables. The independent variables are the type of masks for instance those wearing two-layered cloth masks and health workers wearing medical masks. The other independent variable is the washing method for the mask types for instance washing using one’s hands and hospital laundry (washing machines). The dependent variables are the infections and the viral contamination. The different washing methods of the masks are used to assess the infection rates over a span of four weeks. Viral contamination is measured to check on the presence of the rhinovirus on the medical and cloth masks. Other variables considered for this experiment are age, gender, the number of times washing the masks, and the work setting of the different healthcare workers for instance pediatrics or the ICU. What is the sample size? The authors used a sample size of 607 HCWs aged above 18 years working in high-risk wards and working full-time. The two layered masks were offered for the control experiment while comparing them with medical masks. What is the method of sampling? Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) What