SARS-CoV-2 infection among Mexican healthcare workers

Helix Iván Barajas-Calderón; Mireya Robledo-Aceves; Patricia Paredes-Casillas; Ana Cristina Aguirre-Espinosa; América Aime Corona-Gutiérrez; Eva Elizabet Camarena-Pulido

doi:10.21149/13230

SARS-CoV-2 infection among Mexican healthcare workers

Salud Pública de México ◽

10.21149/13230 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 63 (6, Nov-Dic) ◽

pp. 819-820

Author(s):

Helix Iván Barajas-Calderón ◽

Mireya Robledo-Aceves ◽

Patricia Paredes-Casillas ◽

Ana Cristina Aguirre-Espinosa ◽

América Aime Corona-Gutiérrez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthcare Workers ◽

First Line

Dear editor: Healthcare workers (HCW) have been the first-line defense against pandemic SARS-CoV-2 infection, for this reason, they are highly exposed and possibly have the greatest risk of contagion...

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A Review on Methods of Face Masks Sterilization for Reuse Owing To Crisis During COVID-19

International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences ◽

10.26452/ijrps.v11ispl1.3604 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽

pp. 1240-1243

Author(s):

Pradyuman Singh Rajput ◽

Asish Kumar Saha ◽

Insiya Gangardiwala ◽

Anand Vijayakumar Palur Ramakrishnan

Keyword(s):

Healthcare Workers ◽

Health Hazard ◽

Capital City ◽

Limited Resources ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

First Line ◽

Republic Of China ◽

Enormous Amount ◽

The Face ◽

The Common

The COVID-19 pandemic initially started from the Wuhan capital city of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China had now led to a severe public health hazard across the globe, the recorded death is approximately 958 thousand globally and counting. With the enormous amount of spread of the disease, a severe crisis for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is being noticed across the globe. Face masks being the first line of defence for all the healthcare workers as well for the common public. It became mandatory to wear face masks before entering the patient care area. The countries who are not manufacturing it locally had to depend on other countries for the procurement. As there is a severe supply chain disruption due to the lockdown measures taken by all the countries to contain the disease, so it had become difficult to procure the face masks from the manufacturing countries. The price for these PPEs is also rising at an alarming rate with the increase in the COVID-19 cases and the huge rate of consumption by the healthcare and other sectors. Therefore, with limited resources, the hospital has to run its services. The CDC, WHO and ICMR have released several guidelines from time to time for sterilization and reuse of face masks. This article will discuss the various methods that can be utilized to sterilize the face masks and reuse of it.

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Challenges in smoking prevention among healthcare workers

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20214452 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shada Murshed Alharbi ◽

Mona Moneer AlTurki ◽

Alwaleed Khalid Almutib ◽

Esraa Jamel Subahi ◽

Raghda Khaled Tayeb ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthcare Workers ◽

Smoking Status ◽

Smoking Prevention ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Long Term Outcomes ◽

First Line ◽

Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽

Web Based ◽

Artery Disease

Many diseases have been reported in association with smoking, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and coronary artery disease. Healthcare workers (HCWs) play an essential role in such campaigns being in the first-line of management of the corresponding patients. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the smoking status among HCWs to make sure adequate interventions are appropriately delivered to their patients. Unfortunately, different studies in the literature indicate that the prevalence of smoking is high among HCWs. Furthermore, adopting restricting policies against smoking has been reported to be of limited efficacy in reducing the frequency of smoking. Therefore, other pharmacological therapies have been proposed. However, the duration of the effectiveness of these modalities does not allow for favorable long-term outcomes. Accordingly, psychological interventions, web-based campaigns, and person-to-person interviews can be the most appropriate modalities to achieve better outcomes. Further investigations are still needed for further validation of the most optimal and suitable intervention.

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Investigation of anxiety levels of 1637 healthcare workers during the epidemic of COVID-19

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0243890 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (12) ◽

pp. e0243890

Author(s):

Meiping Shen ◽

Hongzhen Xu ◽

Junfen Fu ◽

Tianlin Wang ◽

Zangzang Fu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Condition ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Univariate Analysis ◽

Anxiety Level ◽

Zhejiang Province ◽

First Line ◽

Self Assessment ◽

Risk Coefficient ◽

Gender Education ◽

Anxiety Levels

Objective This study aimed to investigate the anxiety levels of healthcare workers and to provide guidance on potential accurate social and psychological interventions for healthcare workers during the epidemic of COVID-19 in Zhejiang Province, China. Methods Healthcare workers from five hospitals in Zhejiang Province were randomly selected into this study. Zung Self-Assessment Scale for Anxiety (SAS) was used to evaluate the anxiety status of the included 1637 healthcare workers. Results The total anxiety score of healthcare workers in Zhejiang Province was 30.85 ± 6.89. The univariate analysis showed that the anxiety level of healthcare workers was related to gender, education, occupation, physical condition, job risk coefficient, and with family members on the first-line combating COVID-19 (P <0.05). The multivariate analysis showed that physical condition and job risk coefficient were predictors of anxiety levels of healthcare workers. Conclusions During the epidemic of COVID-19, 1637 healthcare workers generally had an increased tendency to have anxiety. Individualized assessment of the anxiety level of healthcare workers should be provided, and different interventions should be given based on the evaluation results.

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COVID-19 Pandemic in Nepal: A Threat to Low Resources Countries

Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences ◽

10.3126/jkahs.v3i2.30727 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

Seshananda Sanjel ◽

Tarun Paudel ◽

Sangita Sanjel

Keyword(s):

General Public ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Infection Prevention ◽

Health Workers ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Prevention Strategies ◽

First Line ◽

Professional Workers ◽

Contact Transmission ◽

Novel Coronavirus

At present, the global community is experiencing a pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the third disease from a coronavirus to cause a global outbreak. Person-to-person transmission occurs through droplet or contact transmission and if there is a lack of rigorous infection control or if no proper personal protective equipment (PPE) is available, it may endanger the first-line healthcare workers. In Nepal most of the cases are those who traveled to China and India till date, the infection is transmitted to clusters of societies only. Health workers as well as the general public has to be protected from getting infection applying established and universal infection prevention strategies including social distancing, hand hygiene and application of personal protective devices as required. Person-to-person contact is one of the most predominant ways of transmission of the disease, hence general public as well as all the professional workers have to follow the infection prevention approaches.

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Early experiences of radiographers in Ireland during the COVID-19 crisis

Insights into Imaging ◽

10.1186/s13244-020-00910-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Shane J. Foley ◽

Anne O’Loughlin ◽

Jill Creedon

Keyword(s):

Healthcare Workers ◽

Early Experience ◽

Descriptive Statistics ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

First Line ◽

Early Experiences ◽

Anxiety Levels ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Imaging is crucial for assessing the severity and progression of COVID-19. Radiographers are amongst the first-line health professionals that may be exposed to infected persons. This work describes the early experience of radiographers in Ireland to the impact of COVID-19 using two electronic surveys distributed 6 weeks apart. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results A total of 370 responded to the first survey and 276 the second, with all six Irish health regions represented. Three quarters of radiographers (77%) reported having adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) available to them. However, almost half of the radiographers were inadvertently exposed to COVID-19-positive patients without appropriate PPE, largely attributed to poor communication and testing. Anxiety levels while initially high, reduced substantially 6 weeks into the crisis period. However, obvious distress was noted amongst some respondents. Forty percent of radiographers reported burnout symptoms due to the COVID-19 crisis and 30% reported considering changing jobs or retiring since the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusion Clear communication regarding changing protocols and importantly patients’ infectious status are essential to safeguard healthcare workers and to minimise unnecessary anxiety and distress. Attention is required to staff mental health including the identification of burnout symptoms to prevent long-term negative consequences of the pandemic on radiography services.

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