Worries and Concerns of Healthcare Workers About COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Care Setting With a Previous MERS-COV Outbreak Experience
Abstract BackgroundCovid-19 was declared by the WHO as a worldwide pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 11th June, 2020, Saudi Arabia had 112,288 infected cases, with 77,954 recoveries and 819 deaths. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at higher risk of acquiring and transmitting this virus, so the concerns of HCWs in Saudi Arabia regarding Covid-19 were evaluated in comparison with their concerns about the previous MERS-CoV outbreak.Methods.HCWs at three tertiary hospitals in Saudi Arabia were surveyed via email, by a concern scale about Covid-19 pandemic during 15–30 April, 2020. Concerns of disease severity, governmental efforts to contain it and disease outcomes were assessed using 32 concern statements in five distinct domains. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify predictors of high concern scores.Results.A total of 844 HCW responded to the survey. Their average age was 40.4 ± 9.5 years, 40.3% were nurses, 58.2% had direct patient contact, and 77.3% were living with family members and/or others. The majority of participants (72.1%) had an overall concern score of 55 or less out of a maximum score of 96 points. Three-fourth of respondents felt at risk of contracting Covid-19 infection at work, 69.1% felt threatened if a colleague contracted Covid-19, 69.9% felt obliged to care for patients infected with Covid-19 while 27.7% did not feel safe at work using the standard precautions. Nearly all HCWs believed that the government should isolate patients with Covid-19 in specialized hospitals (92.9%), agreed with travel restriction to/from areas affected by Covid-19 (94.7%) and felt safe government implemented curfew and movement restriction periods (93.6%). Predictors of high concern scores were; HCWs of Saudi nationality (p < 0.001), younger age (p = 0.003), undergraduate education (p = 0.044), living with others (p = 0.003) working in the western region (p = 0.003) and direct contact with patients (p = 0.018).Conclusions.The current study highlights the high concern among healthcare workers about Covid-19 and identifies the predictors of those with highest concern levels. To minimize the potential negative impact of those concerns on the performance of HCWs during pandemics, measures are necessary to enhance their protection and to minimize the psychological effect of the perceived risk of infection.