Health-care preparedness and health-care worker protection in COVID-19 pandemic (original) (raw)
Related papers
Covid-19: Protecting Worker Health
Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 2020
At the time of writing (5 March 2020) Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) has spread to 76 countries with over 93 000 cases (WHO, 2020a) around the world since it was first identified and described in China on 31 December 2019 (WHO, 2020b). The case fatality rate may be as high as 3.4% and, although the indications are that it is a mild, self-limiting illness for the majority of those infected, it clearly has the potential to cause significant disruption globally. Many countries are moving from the 'containment' to the 'delay' phase in controlling the outbreak with a recent UK model suggesting a potential peak in June 2020 (Danon et al., 2020). Occupational hygienists have particular skills in understanding exposure to hazards in the workplace and a long history of introducing simple and effective measures that reduce risk to workers' health. These skills may be able to contribute to protecting the global workforce from Covid-19. Workers involved in healthcare have always had a recognized increase in risk of developing infections present in the community where their patients are drawn. Health care workers are often on the front line dealing with those who are ill and at the most infectious period of a disease, as in the cases of SARS, MERS, and Ebola. Healthcare facilities can therefore act as a focus for infection spreading, giving rise to disease clusters linked to hospitals, social care facilities, and other health locations
Healthcare workers’ preparedness and response during COVID-19 pandemic
Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare, 2021
Background Healthcare workers (HCWs) are most at risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 infection. Their preparedness, as a result of provision and access to personal protective equipment (PPE), training programmes and awareness and practices on infection prevention and control measures, is integral for the prevention of infectious disease transmission. Objectives This study was conducted to assess the preparedness and practices of HCWs during COVID-19 first wave outbreak in Brunei Darussalam. Methods A cross-sectional study using a pre-designed and self-administered web-based questionnaire was conducted among HCWs from government and private health sectors ranging from primary to tertiary health facilities in Brunei Darussalam. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, and chi-square test was used for statistical significance. Results A total of 511 HCWs participated in the study. Nurses (64%) and HCWs based at hospitals (66%) made up the majority of the study participa...
Journal of Clinical and Health Sciences
The outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. The incidence of this pandemic continues to rise, with 40,665,438 confirmed cases and 1,121,843 deaths worldwide by 21 October 2020. During this public health crisis, healthcare workers are at the frontline of the COVID-19 outbreak response, and as such are at risk of being infected and developing job burnout while in the line of duty. This study reviews the history of COVID-19 outbreak, infection control measures in hospitals during COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare workers’ risk of infection and other health effects from battling COVID-19, and challenges and recommendations for protecting healthcare workers during this pandemic. At present, healthcare workers are every country’s most valuable resources, and their safety must thus be ensured. Strong medical leadership, clear pandemic planning, policies and protocols, continuous...
Management of Pandemic Crisis: COVID-19
International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences
The world is threatened with a novel corona virus (COVID-19) which has posed an unpredictable challenge to the public health workforce. It originated from the Wuhan City of China and spread across the globe creating havoc among the public and healthcare workers which led to WHO declaring it to be pandemic. Transmission of this virus is through symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in the form of fomites produced while coughing or sneezing. This has led to a global crisis subsequently leading to the scarce availability of health care resources such as personal protective equipment, ventilators, ICU beds, medication. Healthcare workers have been a vital human resource in providing treatment and assistance to the infected patients though they were facing a high risk of themselves getting infected by the coronavirus. They suffered from fatigue, physical, and psychological violence as they tend to work for longer hours. Detection of infected patients was implemented, as the widely used R...
COVID-19: Threat or Opportunity?
Investigación y Educación en Enfermería
The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading quickly. Despite scientists’ best efforts all over the world, there is not a vaccine or definite treatment for it and the novel coronavirus remains a threat to humanity with far-reaching, and in many cases, irredeemable consequences for the economic, political, social-psychological , and cultural aspects of humans’ lives.(1)The quick transmission and fatality of the disease, absence of herd immunity, lack of or inequitable distribution of resources, e.g. Personal Protective Equipment ( PPE), and the existing challenges in the implementation of social distancing result in a daily increase in the number of victims and, consequently, an ever-expanding workload in healthcare systems worldwide. Moreover, the increasing mortality and morbidity of COVID-19 and lack of hospital beds and ventilators have led to healthcare provider’s exhaustion and burnout.(1,2) Healthcare providers, especially nurses are the most vulnerable group in the face of the current ...
Prioritising the role of community health workers in the COVID-19 response
BMJ Global Health, 2020
COVID-19 disproportionately affects the poor and vulnerable. Community health workers are poised to play a pivotal role in fighting the pandemic, especially in countries with less resilient health systems. Drawing from practitioner expertise across four WHO regions, this article outlines the targeted actions needed at different stages of the pandemic to achieve the following goals: (1) PROTECT healthcare workers, (2) INTERRUPT the virus, (3) MAINTAIN existing healthcare services while surging their capacity, and (4) SHIELD the most vulnerable from socioeconomic shocks. While decisive action must be taken now to blunt the impact of the pandemic in countries likely to be hit the hardest, many of the investments in the supply chain, compensation, dedicated supervision, continuous training and performance management necessary for rapid community response in a pandemic are the same as those required to achieve universal healthcare and prevent the next epidemic.
BJPsych International, 2022
Healthcare workers have faced an unprecedented workload in overstretched health facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we describe various initiatives to support them. Psychological, financial and peer support, accommodation and meal services, proper personal protective equipment, applause and gratitude in the community, spiritual and religious life, child care and volunteering were identified. The potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic – permanent stress, burnout and other mental health problems among healthcare professionals – can be expected to grow. Continued monitoring is essential to bolster resilience among healthcare workers and prevent the possible consequences for their mental health.
Journal of the Ceylon College of Physicians, 2022
Introduction: Facing a pandemic is quite challenging for resource-poor healthcare settings. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, healthcare workers (HCWs) had to work with insufficient skills, knowledge and experience regarding the novel coronavirus, which increased their risk of infection. Methods: This study aimed to determine the personal protective equipment (PPE) usage, exposure characteristics, clinical outcomes and seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among a group of quarantined HCWs in seven hospitals in the Western province of Sri Lanka, during the first wave of the pandemic. Data were collected using an intervieweradministered questionnaire and a serum sample was collected at six weeks of exposure to detect SARS-CoV-2 specific IgG antibodies. Both descriptive statistics and chi square test were performed to identify distribution patterns and associations. Results: Of 167 quarantined HCWs, 89(53.3%) had high-risk exposures, while 78 (46.4%) reported lowrisk exposures. Eighty-four HCWs have been exposed when interacting with the patient's environment and 90.5% of them were not using recommended PPE. None of the HCWs wore N95 or higher respirators when performing aerosolgenerating procedures. SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR assay was performed only on 117 (70.1%) HCWs, with 49.6% of them being subjected to the test after
International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET), 2022
Different Indian groups, private government and civil society organizations had developed different strategies to combat Covid-19 unique threat through measures such as escalation vaccines and sample testing per day. In this focused review, we discussed the challenges they face and the success stories used to manage COVID-19. With the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic starting late last year, India had just over 1.5 million isolated beds in all of the 15,375 billion medical facilities of 1.38 billion people. That translates to skosh over 1 bed per 1,000 people. Only 18% of these were oxygen-supported beds, according to the 2020-21 annual report of the Department of Health and Family Welfare.