scholarly journals COVID-19 infection among health care workers: Experience in Base Hospital Wathupitiwala,Sri Lanka.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.A.M.P. Samaranayake ◽  
G.P.C. Jayawardhana ◽  
A.L.L. Roshan ◽  
M.A.M. Wijewardene ◽  
M.I. Siraj
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Risk Exposure ◽  
Uneventful Recovery ◽  
Base Hospital ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Increased Risk

Abstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a serious global health pandemic resulting in high mortality and morbidity. Frontline health care workers (HCWs) are at an increased risk of the acquisition of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection (SARS CoV-2) due to their close interaction with infected patients (1, 2). Also, HCWs can serve as reservoirs of SARS CoV-2 cross-transmission both in community and hospital settings (1). However, the extent of COVID-19 infection among HCWs in Sri Lanka is understudied. Objectives: This study determined the incidence, demographic characteristics, and risk exposure behavior of HCWs who tested positive for SARS CoV-2 at Base Hospital Wathupitiwala. Furthermore, the rate of acquisition of SARS CoV-2 following COVISHIELD/ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and Sinopharm /BBIBP-CorV vaccines in HCWs were studied. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional descriptive analysis was conducted from May 2021 to August 2021 for a total of 818 HCWs. Results: Hundred and twenty-four HCWs (15.16%) were tested positive for COVID-19. The mean age of infected HCWs was 46.27 years and the majority were females (74.19%). Among all infected persons, 54 (43.55%) were nurses/midwives, 39 (31.45%) were clinical supportive staff and 12(9.68%) were medical officers. The number of infected HCWs rapidly escalated and a total of 64(51.61%) HCWs got an infection during August/2021. No source was identified in most of them (34.68%) followed by community acquisition (33.87%). Thirty-five HCWs (28.23%) had acquired infection during a hospital setting or had a high-risk exposure in recent history. Among hospital-related infections, 37.91% of HCWs had shared meals or shared sleeping rooms with an infected workmate. The majority of the HCWs were tested by the infection control unit as symptomatic screening (70.16%) followed by contact tracing (20.16%). Fifty-six (45.16%) HCWs had a history of single or multiple comorbidities. The vast majority of HCWs (95.97%) presented as mild to asymptomatic disease that followed an uneventful recovery. Body aches, headache, fever, and sore throat were the most commonly reported symptoms among them. Among the five HCWs required therapeutic oxygen supplementation, two unvaccinated HCWs succumbed to the infection. The rate of breakthrough infection among HCWs was 8.93%. The acquisition of disease was significantly higher among unvaccinated HCWs than partially (p<0.0001) or fully vaccinated (p<0.0001) HCWs with either type of vaccine. Conclusions: Protecting HCWs remains a challenge in resource-poor settings. The risk of infection fueled by very contagious circulating variants is continuously high even though vaccination has shown clear benefits in preventing mortality and severe infection. Therefore, all healthcare workers should be vaccinated while ensuring continuous infection control measures in the hospital setting.

The Role of Powerlessness Among Health Care Workers in Tuberculosis Infection Control

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (14) ◽  
pp. 2116-2127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena J. Chapman ◽  
Bienvenido A. Veras-Estévez ◽  
Jamie L. Pomeranz ◽  
Eddy N. Pérez-Then ◽  
Belkys Marcelino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Clinical Practices ◽  
Infection Control Measures ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection Control

Due to their occupational exposure in health care settings, health care workers (HCW) have increased risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. They face challenges to remain up-to-date with evidence-based clinical practices and translate educational information into actions in infection control practices. Our purpose was to examine this “knowledge−action” gap about how HCWs understand their occupational M. tuberculosis risk and use recommended infection control measures in clinical practices in the Dominican Republic (DR). We conducted 10 focus groups with 40 physicians and nurses at two tertiary-level DR institutions. Using grounded theory methods, we developed a theoretical model to describe the decision-making process related to adherence to M. tuberculosis infection control measures in clinical practice. Findings highlight intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influenced the observed knowledge−action gap related to M. tuberculosis infection control practices in two DR health institutions.

scholarly journals The assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice towards tuberculosis infection control among health professionals in Nekemte referral hospital, Nekemte, Oromia, West Ethiopia: cross sectional facility based study

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eba Abdisa Golja
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Referral Hospital ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection Control

Infection control remains a key challenge for Tuberculosis control program with an increased risk of Tuberculosis transmission among health care workers. Poor knowledge, poor practice and poor attitude among health care workers and inadequate infection control practices may lead to the increased risk of nosocomial Tuberculosis transmission. People living in the same household, or who otherwise are in frequent contact with an infected patient have the greatest risk of being exposed to the bacilli. This study was aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of health professionals towards tuberculosis infection control in Nekemte referral hospital, Nekemte, west Ethiopia, 2018. Institutional based cross sectional study design was conducted from December 2017 to January 2018 among 223 health professionals in Nekemte referral hospital. Data was collected by using self-administered structured questionnaires which has subdivided components, and finally the analysis was done by double entry of SPSS version 21. Two hundred study participants responded to our current study with response rate of 200(89.6%). In this study, majority of respondents, 54% were females and 55% of them are first degree holders. From 200 participants, 14 (7%) had poor knowledge. Majority, 157(78.5%) of health care workers, had positive attitudes towards Tuberculosis infection control. Sixty (30%) of participants had poor practice. This study found that significantly high proportion of health workers had good knowledge and practice towards tuberculosis infection control. More than half of health workers wrongly believed that surgical mask can protect health workers from inhaling mycobacterium containing aerosols.

The fundamental role of educational intervention on improving health care workers’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards infection control precautions

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasha H. Bassyouni ◽  
Ahmed-Ashraf Wegdan ◽  
Naglaa A El-Sherbiny
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Educational Intervention ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Standard Precautions ◽  
Attitude And Practice ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Atp Bioluminescence ◽  
Knowledge Attitude And Practice

To evaluate the role of educational intervention on health care workers' (HCWs) compliance to standard precautions and cleaning of frequently touched surfaces at critical care units, forty-nine HCWs at 2 intensive care units (ICUs) and one neonatology unit at Fayoum University hospital were evaluated for knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards standard precautions as well as obstacles affecting their compliance to standard precautions before and after a 32-hour purposed-designed infection control education program. A structured self-administrated questionnaire as well as observational checklists were used. Assessment of Environmental cleaning was investigated by observational checklist, ATP bioluminescence and aerobic bacteriological culture for 118 frequently touched surfaces. Pre-intervention assessment revealed that 78.6% of HCWs were with good knowledge, 82.8% with good attitude and 80.8% had good practice. Obstacles identified by HCWs were as follow: making patient-care very technical (65.3%), deficiency of hand washing facilities (59.2%), skin irritation resulting from hand hygiene products (51%), and unavailability of PPE (38.8%). High significant improvements of knowledge, attitude and practice were detected after one month of educational intervention (P= 0.000). During the pre-interventional period only 30.5% of surfaces were considered clean versus 97.45% post intervention (P< 0.05). The highest Median ATP bioluminescence values were obtained from telephone handset, light switches and Blood pressure cuffs. S. aureus was the most common isolated organism followed by Enterococcus spp and E.coli (52, 38 and 19 surfaces respectively). In conclusion, contentious training of HCWs on standard precautions should be considered a mandatory element in infection control programs

scholarly journals Health care workers' recommendations for strengthening tuberculosis infection control in the Dominican Republic

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Helena J. Chapman ◽  
Bienvenido A. Veras-Estévez ◽  
Jamie L. Pomeranz ◽  
Eddy N. Pérez-Then ◽  
Belkys Marcelino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection Control

INVESTIGATION OF SEROPREVALENCE OF IgG ANTIBODIES AMONG HEALTH CARE WORKERS IN VIRAL RESEARCH AND DIAGNOSTIC LABORATORY, AMRITSAR

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-65
Author(s):  
Vaibhav Chawla ◽  
Amandeep Kaur ◽  
Arashdeep Kaur ◽  
Kanwardeep Singh ◽  
Shailpreet Kaur Sidhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Data Entry ◽  
Risk Exposure ◽  
Government Medical College ◽  
Igg Antibodies ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Diagnostic Laboratory ◽  
Medical College ◽  
Care Workers

Health care workers constitute the group of people who take care of COVID-19 patients. Thus, they are highly vulnerable to contract SARS-CoV-2 infection and pose a great threat to co-workers and general public. Seroprevalence studies are an important tool to monitor the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and assess the level of exposure among HCWs. Thus, the present study aims to investigate the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 among Health Care Workers. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was conducted at Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, Government Medical College, st th Amritsar for a period from 1 December 2020 to 15 January 2021. During this period, 90 blood samples were collected from the healthcare workers from Department of Microbiology and Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, Government Medical College, Amritsar. Serum samples were separated and used for detection of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies by ELISA technique. Results: Out of the 90 samples, 31 (34.44%) were found to be positive. Higher number of males 24 (26.67%) and lesser number of females 7 (7.78%) were observed with seropositivity. Out of the total participants in the study, 45.16% of laboratory supporting personnel, 19.35% of junior residents followed by housekeeping staff (12.90%), data entry operators (9.67%), consultants (6.45%) and Senior Residents/Research Scientists (6.45%) were observed to be IgG positive. It was also seen that in high risk exposure category 27.78% were seropositive and in low risk exposure group only 6.67% were seropositive and the difference between two groups was statistically signicant (p<0.000). Conclusion: High seropositivity was observed among health care workers due to their nature of work as frontline workers

scholarly journals Clinical Features and Short-term Outcomes of 102 Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (15) ◽  
pp. 748-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianlei Cao ◽  
Wen-Jun Tu ◽  
Wenlin Cheng ◽  
Lei Yu ◽  
Ya-Kun Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Ground Glass Opacity ◽  
Patient Characteristics ◽  
Study Cohort ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Systemic Complications ◽  
Familial Cluster ◽  
Care Workers

Abstract Background In December 2019, a series of pneumonia cases of unknown cause emerged in Wuhan, Hubei, China. In this study, we investigate the clinical and laboratory features and short-term outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods All patients with COVID-19 admitted to Wuhan University Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan, China, between 3 January and 1 February 2020 were included. All those patients were with laboratory-confirmed infections. Epidemiological, clinical, and radiological characteristics; underlying diseases; laboratory tests; treatments; complications; and outcomes data were collected. Outcomes were followed up at discharge until 15 February 2020. Results The study cohort included 102 adult patients. The median age was 54 years (interquartile ranger, 37–67 years), and 48.0% were female. A total of 34 patients (33.3%) were exposed to a source of transmission in the hospital setting (as health-care workers, patients, or visitors) and 10 patients (9.8%) had a familial cluster. There were 18 patients (17.6%) who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and 17 patients died (mortality, 16.7%; 95% confidence interval, 9.4–23.9%). Those patients who survived were younger, were more likely to be health-care workers, and were less likely to suffer from comorbidities. They were also less likely to suffer from complications. There was no difference in drug treatment rates between the survival and nonsurvival groups. Those patients who survived were less likely to require admission to the ICU (14.1% vs 35.3% of those admitted). Chest imaging examinations showed that patients who died were more likely to have ground-glass opacity (41.2% vs 12.9% in survivors). Conclusions The mortality rate was high among the COVID-19 patients described in our cohort who met our criteria for inclusion in this analysis. The patient characteristics seen more frequently in those who died were the development of systemic complications following onset of the illness and a severity of disease requiring admission to the ICU. Our data support those described by others indicating that COVID-19 infection results from human-to-human transmission, including familial clustering of cases, and from nosocomial transmission. There were no differences in mortality among those who did or did not receive antimicrobial or glucocorticoid drug treatments.

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