scholarly journals Hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis when treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 – Perception of frontline health care workers in South India

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Karthik Mani ◽  
Minu Velan

Objectives: In March 2020, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for prophylaxis in asymptomatic health care workers who care for suspected or confirmed patients and household contacts of confirmed patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This recommendation was received by health-care practitioners with mixed opinions. The objectives of the study were to explore the views of frontline health-care practitioners (physicians, nurses, and physician assistants) in South India related to the ICMR recommendation of HCQ prophylaxis. Material and Methods: The survey research design was used to conduct this study. A ten-item electronic survey was developed based on the research question. The survey link was shared with frontline health-care practitioners in South India through email and WhatsApp messages identified through convenience sampling. Furthermore, the recipients were requested to forward the link to other frontline health-care professionals in their network (snowball sampling). Data were collected from April 16, 2020, to May 7, 2020. Results: The number of responses received was 132. Of 80 respondents who treated or anticipate treating patients with COVID-19, only 29 respondents reported that they complied with the ICMR’s HCQ chemoprophylaxis recommendation. Participants expressed concerns about the side effects and lack of conclusive evidence. Conclusion: Frontline health care workers in South India have mixed opinions with regard to the safety of HCQ prophylaxis. To promote the acceptance of and successful implementation of prophylaxis recommendations, it is essential that health authorities consider research evidence and seek stakeholder input before finalizing recommendations.

Author(s):  
Sushma I. ◽  
Nivin Simon ◽  
A. J. S. Pravin ◽  
M. K. Padmaprasad ◽  
M. Vijayabharathi ◽  
...  

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background: </strong>Mask induced dermatitis is common among health care workers now because of the obligatory use of facemask for a longer period during COVID-19, the clinical features vary. Very few studies could be conducted due to the COVID induced constraints. Studies regarding reactions to face masks in health workers published to date are limited and hence we decided to do this study. The objective of this study was to find out the clinical presentations of mask induced dermatitis due to long term use of facemask on healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> A cross sectional study was conducted among 40 healthcare workers attend our OPD with face mask for 6 months. After getting informed written consent clinical evaluation was made by history and dermatologic examination.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Total 40 health care professionals between the age group of 21-50 years (17 females and 23 males) came to our OPD with complaints of itching and dryness with signs of erythema, scaling, papules for 6 months duration. Out of them, 15 (37.5%) patients had exacerbation of pre-existing dermatoses like atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, chronic urticaria, acne. 10 patients (25%) had irritant contact dermatitis 7 patients (17.5%) had sweat-induced dermatitis, 4 patients (10%) had dermatitis due to sponge strip at the nasal bridge, 4 patients (10%) had dermatitis due to vehement use of ear loop involving retroauricular region.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> This study showed that wearing face masks results in the development and aggravation of other skin diseases due to various causes. Itch can induce scratching and thus lead to inappropriate use of face masks, which could compromise their function.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (05) ◽  
pp. 1032-1037
Author(s):  
Khadija Mumtaz ◽  
Nadia Aslam ◽  
Naima Mehdi ◽  
Nazma Kiran ◽  
Sadaf Farzand ◽  
...  

Objectives: This study was performed to access the knowledge of health care professionals regarding health care associated infections, nosocomial pathogens, fomites and their role in transmission of nosocomial pathogens. Study Design: Descriptive, questionnaire based, cross-sectional study. Setting: Tertiary care hospital of Lahore, Punjab. Period: From October 2017 to January 2018. Material & Methods: Questionnaires were carefully formulated to access basic knowledge of physicians, surgeons and nurses. Responses given were analyzed and recorded as frequency and percentage. Results: Regarding health care associated infections, respiratory tract infections were identified by 72% surgeons, 65% physicians and 59% nurses. Surgical wound infections were identified by 76% of surgeons and 81% nurses. 45.7% physician identified bacteraemia as nosocomial infection. Rate of identification for rest of nosocomial infections was sub optimum (<50%) by health care workers. Regarding identification of nosocomial pathogens, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus was marked by 65% of physicians, 83.8% of nurses, 76% of surgeons. Pseudomonas nosocomial pathogen was identified by 40%, 46% and 64% of physicians, nurses and surgeons respectively. The rate of identification for rest of the nosocomial organisms was again sub optimum (<40%) by health care workers. Regarding fomites, mattresses and pillows, thermometer, stethoscopes were identified by 75.7%, 59.2 and 50% of Health care professionals respectively. Conclusion: This survey identified positive attitude among Health care workers towards infection control but low level of knowledge regarding health care associated infections and nosocomial pathogens. Therefore, to prevent nosocomial infections, there is strong need to develop strategies for improving knowledge of Health care professionals.


2013 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anoop Mathew ◽  
Thambu David ◽  
Kurien Thomas ◽  
P.J. Kuruvilla ◽  
V. Balaji ◽  
...  

Healthcare ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 535
Author(s):  
Mariangela Valentina Puci ◽  
Guido Nosari ◽  
Federica Loi ◽  
Giulia Virginia Puci ◽  
Cristina Montomoli ◽  
...  

The ongoing pandemic scenario, due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has had a considerable impact on public health all over the world. Italy was one of the most affected countries, as the first European full-blown outbreak occurred there. The exposure of the Italian health care workers to COVID-19 may be an important risk factor for psychological distress. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to describe worries and risk perception of being infected among Italian Health Care Workers (HCWs) during the first wave of the pandemic. In total, 2078 HCWs participated in a web survey (78.8% were females). The highest percentage of respondents were physicians (40.75%) and nurses (32.15%), followed by medical (18.00%), health care support (4.50%) and administrative (4.60%) staff. In a score range between 0 (not worried) and 4 (very worried), our results showed that participants declared that they were worried about the Coronavirus infection with a median score of 3 (IQR 2-3) and for 59.19% the risk perception of being infected was very high. In addition, HCWs reported they suffered from sleep disturbances (63.43%). From the analysis of the psychological aspect, a possible divergence emerged between the perceived need for psychological support (83.85%) and the relative lack of this service among health care providers emerged (9.38%). Our findings highlight the importance of psychological and psychiatric support services not only during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also in other emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) scenarios. These services may be useful for health authorities and policymakers to ensure the psychological well-being of health care professionals and to promote precautionary behaviors among them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 560-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirna Fawaz ◽  
Ali Samaha

Background: Since the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), health care professionals in Lebanon have been diligently serving as the frontline of defense. In the light of challenging economic and political circumstances, putting their community wellbeing as a priority, and abiding by quarantine and strict infection control measures, health care professionals risk both their physical and mental wellbeing. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the psychosocial effects of being quarantined following exposure to COVID-19 among Lebanese health care professionals. Method: An exploratory qualitative research design was employed, where semi-structured interviews were carried out involving a sample of 13 Lebanese health care providers working at various COVID-19 units. Results: The qualitative analysis has revealed four themes namely ‘Fears of contracting and spreading the virus’, ‘Conflict between professional duty and family obligation’, ‘Stigma of being infected’, and ‘Inadequate or inaccurate information’. Conclusion: COVID-19 quarantine has been posing intense psychological challenges among Lebanese health care workers which are worsened at times by the economic instability; thus, health care policymakers are urged to take proper action nationwide to alleviate longlisting implications and support the health care providers in fulfilling their mission.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Girish K Sharma ◽  
Pamposh Raina ◽  
Kailash C Barwal ◽  
Manjeet Kumar ◽  
Vineet Kumar ◽  
...  

The unremitting COVID-19 pandemic is evoking anxiety, fear, panic, and socio-occupational stress among human population all around the globe. This cross-sectional study was planned to assess the fear and anxiety because of COVID-19 pandemic among health care professionals, patients, and general public in IGMC, Shimla. A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted in month of December 2020. COVID-19 fear questionnaire was used to assess fear among participants. A total of 162 responses were received. Ninety-five (41.35%) respondents were males and 67(58.64%) were females. Average total score of COVID-19 fear based on questionnaire was 17.71 among the participants. The majority of respondents 67(41.4%) were afraid of COVID-19, 53(32.7%) were neutral, whereas 42 (25.9%) were not afraid of COVID-19. Sixty-two (38.3%) responders were uncomfortable thinking about COVID-19, whereas, 67(41.4%) were not uncomfortable. Only 22 (13.6%) participants felt their hands clammy when they thought of COVID-19, 78 (48.15%) respondents were afraid of losing their life, 78 (48.15%) respondents disagreed with the question of being nervous or anxious to hear news and stories of COVID-19. Thirteen (8%) participants were informed of sleeplessness, and 22 (13.5%) reported palpitations due to COVID-19 fear. COVID-19 fear was evident in 65.15% of all males and 55.8% of all females’ respondents, respectively. Seventy percent of participants of age more than 40 years were afraid of COVID-19, whereas only 54.83% participants of less than 40 years had COVID-19 fear. COVID-19 fear was more evident among non-HCW (74.42%) as compared to HCW in whom it was seen in 53.03% participants. Rampaging Pandemic has ingrained fear and anxiety among non-HCW as well as health care workers. But undeterred by COVID-19 fear, majority of participants didn’t fear death and didn’t have other effects of fear. Despite (can be used) surging pandemic when fear of COVID-19 is soaring, HCW and non-HCW could work, think, and live.


2022 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agneta Kallström ◽  
Orwa Al-Abdulla ◽  
Jan Parkki ◽  
Mikko Häkkinen ◽  
Hannu Juusola ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The Syrian conflict has endured for a decade, causing one of the most significant humanitarian crises since World War II. The conflict has inflicted massive damage to civil infrastructure, and not even the health care sector has been spared. On the contrary, health care has been targeted, and as a result, many health professionals have left the country. Despite the life-threatening condition, many health professionals continued to work inside Syria even in the middle of the acute crisis. This qualitative study aims to determine the factors that have motivated Syrian health professionals to work in a conflict-affected country. Methods The research is based on 20 semi-structured interviews of Syrian health care workers. Interviews were conducted in 2016–2017 in Gaziantep, Turkey. A thematic inductive content analysis examined the motivational factors Syrian health care workers expressed for their work in the conflict area. Results Motivating factors for health care workers were intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic reasons included humanitarian principles and medical ethics. Also, different ideological reasons, patriotic, political and religious, were mentioned. Economic and professional reasons were named as extrinsic reasons for continuing work in the war-torn country. Conclusions The study adds information on the effects of the Syrian crisis on health care—from healthcare workers' perspective. It provides a unique insight on motivations why health care workers are continuing their work in Syria. This research underlines that the health care system would collapse totally without local professionals and leave the population without adequate health care.


Author(s):  
Yousuf A Vawda ◽  
Farhana Variawa

South Africa is renowned for having a progressive Constitution with strong protection of human rights, including protection for persons using the public health system. While significant recent discourse and jurisprudence have focused on the rights of patients, the situation and rights of providers of health care services have not been adequately ventilated. This paper attempts to foreground the position of the human resources personnel located at the centre of the roll-out of the government's ambitious programme of anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy. The HIV/AIDS epidemic represents a major public health crisis in our country and, inasmuch as various critical policies and programmes have been devised in response, the key to a successful outcome lies in the hands of the health care professionals tasked with implementing such strategies. Often pilloried by the public, our health care workers (HCWs) face an almost Herculean task of turning the tide on the epidemic. Unless the rights of HCWs are recognised and their needs adequately addressed, the best laid plans of government will be at risk. This contribution attempts to identify and analyse the critical challenges confronting HCWs at the coalface of the HIV/AIDS treatment programme, in particular the extent to which their own rights are under threat, and offers recommendations to remedy the situation in order to ensure the successful realisation of the ARV rollout.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Ankica Stajić Vujić

Conflicts are part of our everyday life. They are inevitable companions in every sphere of human activity. Health care workers, as well as all the people who directly communicate with others, entering into conflict situations more often and several times a day. In contrast, health professionals do not have much knowledge about the sources of conflict and ways to solve them. The Health Centre Bijeljina in 2010 introduced ISO standards 9001, under which it was adopted and procedures: Managing appeals to us. Health care professionals are invited to efficiently resolve conflicts, knowing that they themselves created, and they are an essential part of human life. The results show that the application of the standards effective in resolving conflicts and conflict situations in the DZ-Bijeljina.


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