COVID-19 in health care workers. A new problem in occupational medicine

Author(s):  
Oleg Yu. Atkov ◽  
Svetlana G. Gorokhova ◽  
Viktor F. Pfaf

The paper contains a literature review on COVID-19 in health care workers and demonstrates that the disease is of occupational character; features, clinical signs, and complications are described to provide evidence for such interpretation. It also addresses important documents issued by the Government of Russia to support medical professionals, some aspects of occupational risk in COVID-19, and the role of interactions between patients and health care workers in disease propagation.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOVANNY TSUALA FOUOGUE ◽  
MICHEL NOUBOM ◽  
BRUNO KENFACK ◽  
NORBERT TANKE DONGMO ◽  
MAXIME TABEU ◽  
...  

Background The World Health Organization has warned against a dramatic impact of COVID'19 in subSaharan Africa unless adequate response strategies are implemented. Whatever the strategy, the role of health care workers is pivotal. We undertook this study to assess knowledge of COVID'19 and perception of the response to the pandemic among the staff of a regional hospital in charge of COVID'19 patients in West Cameroon. Methods We used a convenience non probabilistic sampling method to carry out a survey with a self administered questionnaire from April 14, 2020 to April 29, 2020 at the Bafoussam Regional Hospital (BRH). All the staff was invited to participate. Statistical analyses were done using Microsoft Excel 2010 and Epi Info version 7.1.5.2 software. Results Response rate was 76.1% (464/610). Mean age (SD) and average work experience (SD) were 35.0 (8.9) and 8.4 (7.4) years respectively. Sex ratio (M/F) was 101/356. Nursing and midwifery staff (56.8%) and in patients units (49.94%) were predominant. Knowledge on origin and transmission of SARS'CoV'2 was poor but knowledge of clinical signs and the role of laboratory tests were good. 53.2% of respondents said all therapeutic regimens are only supportive and only a third of them trusted drugs recommended by health authorities. For 36.9% of respondents, herbal remedies can prevent/cure COVID'19. 70% of staffs felt they were not knowledgeable enough to handle COVID'19 cases. 85.6% of respondents thought the BRH had insufficient resources to adequately respond to COVID'19 and 55.6% were dissatisfied with its response to the pandemic (weaknesses: medicines/technologies (74.5%), service delivery (28.1%), human resource (10.9%)). 68% of staff felt insufficiently protected on duty and 76.5% reported that the pandemic significantly reduced non-COVID-19 services. 85.5% said they complied with preventive measures while in the community. For 44% of respondents Cameroonian regulations on COVID'19 corpses should be made more culture sensitive. 51.2% of respondents were against vaccine trial in their community. Conclusion Knowledge of COVID'19 was poor and perception of the response to the pandemic was unfavorable. Key words Health care workers ; Bafoussam ; Knowledge ; Perception ; COVID'19


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 628-631
Author(s):  
Devangi Agrawal ◽  
Namisha Khara ◽  
Bhushan Mundada ◽  
Nitin Bhola ◽  
Rajiv Borle

In the wake of the current outbreak of novel Covid-19, which is now declared as a 'pandemic' by the WHO, people around the globe have been dealing with a lot of difficulties. This virus had come into light in December 2019 and since then has only grown exponentially. Amongst the most affected are the ones who have been working extremely hard to eradicate it, which includes the hospitals, dental fraternity and the health-care workers. These people are financially burdened due to limited practise. In the case of dentistry, to avoid the spread of the virus, only emergency treatments are being approved, and the rest of the standard procedures have been put on hold. In some cases, as the number of covid cases is rising, many countries are even trying to eliminate the emergency dental procedures to divert the finances towards the treatment of covid suffering patients. What we need to realise is that this is probably not the last time that we are facing such a situation. Instead of going down, we should set up guidelines with appropriate precautionary measures together with the use of standardised PPEs. The government should also establish specific policies to support dental practices and other health-care providers. Together, we can fight this pandemic and come out stronger.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasha H. Bassyouni ◽  
Ahmed-Ashraf Wegdan ◽  
Naglaa A El-Sherbiny

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


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkatesh U ◽  
Aravind Gandhi P

UNSTRUCTURED Telemedicine is where health care intersects with Information Technology. In India, there has been no statutory regulations or official guidelines, specific for Telemedicine practice and allied matters, so far. For the first time, Government of India has released Telemedicine Practice Guidelines for Registered Medical Practitioners on March 25, 2020, amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Through this paper, we would like to initiate the discussion on the features of the guidelines, limitations, and its significance in times of COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines are with a restricted scope for providing medical consultation to patients, excluding other aspects of Telemedicine such as research and evaluation, and the continuing education of health-care workers. The guidelines have elaborated on the eligibility for practicing Telemedicine in India, the modes and types of Teleconsultation, delved into doctor-patient relationship, consent, & management protocols, touched upon the data security & privacy aspects of the Teleconsultation. After releasing the guidelines, Telescreening of public for COVID-19 symptoms is being advocated by the Government of India. COVID-19 National Teleconsultation Centre (CoNTeC) has been initiated, which connects the doctors across the India to AIIMS in real-time for accessing expert guidance on treatment of the COVID-19 patients.


Vestnik ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 313-316
Author(s):  
И.Г. Турсумбай ◽  
Л.К. Кошербаева

Одним из последствий осуществления медицинской деятельности в разнообразных хозяйственных формах является изменение экономического положения работников здравоохранения. От количества и качества их труда зависит экономический результат деятельности лечебно-профилактических учреждений (ЛПУ) в целом. В статье приводится сравнительный анализ занимающихся подготовкой экономистов в области здравоохранения по различным критериям. Подчеркивается необходимость непрерывного совершенствования подготовки управленческих кадров в области экономики здравоохранения в современных условиях развития общества. One of the consequences of the implementation of medical activities in various economic forms is a change in the economic situation of health care workers. The number and quality of their work depends on the economic result of the activities of medical and preventive institutions (LPU) as a whole. The article presents a comparative analysis of the health economists who are engaged in training according to various criteria. The necessity of continuous improvement of training of managerial personnel in the field of health economics in the modern conditions of society development is emphasized.


2021 ◽  
pp. 49-52
Author(s):  
Shrivastava P ◽  
Verma S ◽  
Khushboo Khushboo ◽  
Bhattacharya P K

Despite the ubiquity of health-related communications via social media, no consensus has emerged what information should be conveyed and how it should be conveyed to avoid creating panic among general population. With lockdowns social media, mass media became as a habit by people for news, information regarding COVID-19 and it is practiced even after lockdown. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mass media, social media and local news has become as the source of a toxic “infodemic” source for public. It contained both solicited and unsolicited advice. No conceptual model exists for examining the roles of media. It is important to rst assess the important mis-information, role of infodemics and prevalent casualness among the public regarding the COVID-19. Till mass vaccination is not commenced it is prudent to emphasize guidelines and practices as per COVID guidelines like social distancing, wearing mask, hand hygiene


1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemare Troskie

The Reconstruction and Development Plan as well as the National Health Plan of the ANC supports the reorganisation of health services. OpsommingDie Heropbou en Ontwikkelingsprogram sowel as die Nasionale Gesondheidsplan van die ANC staan die herorganisasie van gesondheidsdienste voor. *Please note: This is a reduced version of the abstract. Please refer to PDF for full text.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katinka Linnamäki

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Hungarian Fidesz-KDNP government´s discursive practices of control and care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper researches the Hungarian government’s communication on the official Hungarian COVID-19 Facebook page during the first wave of the pandemic. Its aim is to answer the question how the Hungarian government articulated control and care to reinforce sedimented gendered division of care work and institutions of control to tackle the potential disruption of the system of care before the widespread vaccination of the elderly population was available in the country. The paper argues that the pandemic has allowed the government to exert control in areas, such as the crisis in the workforce market and health care system, as well as in the destabilized system of care work. The main finding is that in the material the government performs control over care work, whose intensified discussion during the pandemic could lead to a potential disruption within the illiberal logic on two different levels. First, physical care work related to immediate physical needs, like hunger, clothing, pain enacted by female shoppers, female health care workers and female social workers, is newly defined during the pandemic as local, family-bound and a naturally female task. Second, the government articulates care work, either as potentially harmful (for the elderly population and thus indirectly to the government’s familialist politics), or as vulnerable and in need of protection from outside influences (portrayed through the interaction of health care workers and “hospital commanders”). This enables the government to perform full state control over care workers through the mobilization of police and military masculinity and to strengthen and re-naturalize the already existing hierarchies between traditional gender roles from a new perspective during the pandemic. This state of affairs highlights the vulnerability both of the elderly population, on whom its familialism builds, and of the system of informal care work, which builds on the unpaid care work of female citizens, who paradoxically are also articulated as potential harm for the elderly and for the system.


Author(s):  
Quentin Eichbaum

Abstract Telemedicine refers to the use of telecommunication technologies for the purpose of transmitting medical information between physically separated clinical sites, in order to provide health care to patients at such remote locations. Additionally, telemedicine can be used to educate health care workers and students at distant locations. Telemedicine technologies can be categorized as either ‘store-andforward’ or ‘interactive’ (or ‘synchronous/asynchronous’) depending on the timing of the transmission of information. This review focuses on applications of telemedicine to the field of obstetric and gynecologic (Obs/Gyne) ultrasound. It also examines the utilization patterns of telemedicine, as well as its costs and benefits. Finally, this article examines the role of telemedicine in medical education, specifically also with reference to Obs/Gyne ultrasound.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan de Jonge ◽  
Maria C.W. Peeters ◽  
Pascale M. Le Blanc

Emotion work and positive work outcomes: The role of specific job resources Emotion work and positive work outcomes: The role of specific job resources J. de Jonge, M.C.W. Peeters & P.M. Le Blanc, Gedrag & Organisatie, Volume 19, November 2006, nr. 4, pp. 345-367 This cross-sectional study among 826 health care workers examined the association between emotion work (defined as emotional demands) and positive work outcomes (i.e., creativity, active learning, and job challenge), and the moderating role of job resources on this relation. The hypotheses were tested with multivariate multiple regression analyses (LISREL 8.30), using cross-validation techniques. The results showed indeed that, compared with a non-match, a match between emotional demands and (emotional) resources increased the chance of positive work outcomes. So, to achieve positive work outcomes it seems to be important for job demands in general and for emotional demands in particular, that a correspondence exists between the kind of job resource and the kind of job demands. From a practical point of view, work-related interventions on emotion work should therefore focus on specific, emotional, job resources to stimulate positive work outcomes for health care workers.


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