Backgroud: The difficulty of curbing the incidence of HIV has long been associated with stigma, which has been linked to the lack of knowledge, poor attitudes, and discriminatory behaviours of ...healthcare workers. The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, behavior, and care barriers of healthcare workers from highly urbanised cities towards HIV/AIDS. Methods: A total of 171 healthcare workers in Leyte province were included in the study. The study utilized a self-report questionnaire and was conducted in the early quarter of 2021. Spearman rank-order correlation analysis was employed to answer the study's hypotheses. Results: Results revealed that the participants have moderate knowledge of HIV/AIDS and good work attitudes but have prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviors toward their HIV/AIDS-related care. Furthermore, it was found that there is a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude, as well as attitude toward behaviors. Notably, results revealed no correlation between knowledge of HIV/AIDS and perceived behaviors. Conclusion: It can be concluded that health workers in highly urbanized cities like Leyte province have essential knowledge, attitude, and behaviors in providing care to clients suspected or confirmed of HIV/AIDS. A good attitude towards HIV suggests a likelihood of a health care provider having sufficient knowledge of HIV and practising caring behaviors.
Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of becoming infected with
complex (Mtbc).
To assess the magnitude of Mtbc transmission by children under the age of 15 years to HCW.
Medline, Google ...Scholar and Cochrane library were searched to select primary studies in which a child was the presumed index case and exposed HCW were screened for latent TB infection (LTBI).
Of 4,702 abstracts, 15 original case reports covering 16 children with TB were identified. In sum, 1,395 HCW were contact persons and underwent testing. Ten of the studies reported TST conversion, amounting to 35 (2.9%) of the 1,228 HCW tested. In three of the TST-based and both of the studies that used IGRA testing, conversion was absent. 12 of the 15 studies (80%) reported exposure of HCW in neonatal intensive units (NICUs) to premature infants suffering from congenital pulmonary TB. One study including two infants addressed possible pulmonary Mtbc transmission in a general pediatric ward. Extrapulmonary transmission by aerosolized Mtbc was suggested in two patients, an infant with tuberculous peritonitis and a 12-year-old adolescent with pleurisy, and culture-confirmed only after the child had undergone video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Routine use of protective facemasks by HCW before exposure was not mentioned in any of the included studies.
The results suggest that the risk of Mtbc transmission from children to HCW is low. Particular attention should be paid to infection risk during respiratory manipulations in NICUs. The consistent wearing of facemasks may further reduce the risk of Mtbc transmission.
Objective: To identify the effect of workplace health promotion activities (WHPA) on the health status of health personnel. Methodology: A systematic literature review was performed. Six computerized ...databases were used to search for studies on the effect of at least one health promotion activity on the health status of health personnel. Studies were included if they were published in peer-reviewed and indexed journals and were written either in English, Spanish, or Portuguese. Information such as study population, sample size, type of study, outcome, and health promotion activities performed were extracted from each publication. All the included articles were measured in terms of their methodological quality, including the risk of bias. Results: Lower scores on perceived stress, emotional exhaustion, and mood symptoms were reported. An improvement in sleep hours and quality and a reduction in dietary sodium intake were informed. Improvements in participants’ dietary habits, weight loss, and body fat percentage, along with increased physical activity and a reduction in pain levels were reported. A reduction in the prevalence of cigarette smoking was found. Conclusions: WHPAs can enhance physical and mental health, and overall well-being, and encouraging healthier behaviors among health personnel. Most of the studies targeting mental health focused their efforts primarily on reducing healthcare workers’ perceived stress. WHPAs that addressed both diet and physical activity behaviors were more effective at improving weight outcomes than those that used only one approximation. Overall, this study offers valuable information on the impact of worksite-based health promotion interventions, including the effect of different strategies applied.
Background: With the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the medical treatment staffs were at the forefront of dealing with the disease. The lived experiences in the face of this disease can help better ...manage the epidemic and identify organizational and individual barriers and challenges. This study aimed to investigate the experiences of medical staff working in COVID- 19 wards in Shiraz teaching hospitals.Methods: The present study is a qualitative study conducted in 2021-2022. A semi-structured interview was used to collect data. Eighteen nurses, physicians, and health workers of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences were employed for the interview. The snowball sampling technique based on the target group was used. Data were analyzed by The Colaizzi seven-step analysis method.Results: Three themes, including “tensions”, “material and spiritual support”, and “pleasant feeling” and eight sub-themes were extracted. The sub themes were “resilience”, “insufficient knowledge”, “depression”, “expressing gratitude by friends”, “public attention”, “organizational support”, “feeling proud”, and “altruism”.Conclusion: The present study shows that COVID- 19 caused a lot of pressure on the medical staff during the pandemic, which led to psychological and emotional damage. On the other hand, material and spiritual support played an important role in reducing distress in times of crisis.
Background:
When the contagious COVID-19 spread worldwide, the frontline staff faced unprecedented excessive work pressure and expectations of all of the society.
Objective:
The aim was to explore ...healthcare workers’ stress and influencing factors when caring for COVID-19 patients from an altruistic perspective.
Methods:
A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in a tertiary hospital during the outbreak of COVID-19 between February and March 2020 in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province in China. Data were collected from 1208 healthcare workers. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the data.
Ethical considerations:
Research ethics approval (with the code of TJ-IRB20200379) was obtained from Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Written informed consent was also received from participants.
Results:
Less than 60% of participants chose moderate or severe stress on all stressors, indicating a low stress level among healthcare workers. The main source of stress among frontline healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients came from the fear of being infected, the fear of family members being infected, and the discomfort caused by protective equipment. Frontline staff who were nurses, were married, and had worked more than 20 days suffered higher stress, whereas rescue staff showed lower stress.
Conclusion:
The healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19 had low stress level, although they still had the fear of being infected or uncomfortable feeling caused by personal protective equipment. A low stress level among healthcare workers indicated their professional devotion and altruism during COVID-19 epidemic. Medical institutions and the government should continue to strengthen infection prevention measures and provide more comprehensive care involving families of frontline healthcare workers, especially nurses and married staff. It will be a lesson to other countries that awaking healthcare workers’ inside motivation and providing necessary support from government and society were significant.
Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. Tracing and screening cases among healthcare workers are essential to overcome the spread of COVID-19. We held ...surveillance at the second-referral hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia, to inspect the associating factors of infected HCWs.
Methods: From 776 HCWs, we conducted a structured retrospective review of all COVID-19-confirmed HCWs and ones having contact with COVID-19 patients between February-July 2021. We associated general characteristics (i.e age, gender, working sites, etc) of the sample with the positive cases, analyzed the vaccination status, then did bivariate and multivariate regression logistic analyses to determine related factors putting HCWs at risk for COVID-19 infection.
Results: Bivariate analysis significantly revealed that 72.86% patients had a close contact (OR = 2.61; p<0.05), with medical staffs as the most frequent source (85.71%; OR = 2.19; p=0.033), for > 15 minutes contact duration (90%; OR = 1.1; p<0.05). Healthcare workers wearing proper PPE (N-95 and face shields) were significantly less exposed to COVID-19 (OR = 0.47; p<0.05; and OR = 0.46; p<0.05). Even fully-vaccinated samples were still prone to infection. (OR=1.25; p= 0.042). Common symptoms consisted of fever, rhinorrhea, sore throat, and vomiting (p=0.025l p=0.002; p<0.05; p=0.002). Multivariate regression logistic analysis disclosed that the use of N95 masks, contact duration >15 minutes, and the vaccine were the most influential factors (aOR = 1.72. 95% CI (1.029-2.88); aOR = 3.92. 95% CI (1.75-8.78); aOR = 0.39. 95% CI (0.13-0.82 ))
Conclusions: Close contact, lack of compliance in wearing N95 masks, and unvaccinated status are risk factors for COVID-19 exposure to HCWs; thus, to achieve maximum prevention of intra-hospital transmission, the use of N-95 masks, contact avoidance, and vaccination, along with immediate tracing and strict health-protocols are all compulsory.
Background & Objectives: Staphylococcus spp. is a resident flora of the skin and mucosa of humans that can colonize the anterior nares of individuals. This cross-sectional study was conducted to ...determine the rate and antibiotic resistance pattern of nasal Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) carriers among the staff of Fasa hospital, southern Iran.
Materials & Methods: Nasal swab samples were collected from 117 hospital staff working in 12 wards. Microbiological culture method was applied for S. aureus identification. The isolates were confirmed by tuf gene identification using PCR assay. Five isolates were randomly sequenced and phylogenetically analysed using MEGA software. The antimicrobial resistance pattern of the isolates was evaluated using the disc diffusion assay and the amplification of the methicillin resistance (mecA) gene.
Results: The prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriers included 10.26% (n=12). The nasal carriers were identified in the wards of surgery ICU, gynecologic surgery, NICU, pediatric, internal surgery, and emergency. Among them, gynecologic surgery staff had the highest rate of nasal colonization (33.33%). Phylogenetic analysis showed that of five isolates, four had high similarities with each other. Also, the highest rate of resistance was related to penicillin (83.3%), followed by cefazolin (75%), and cephalexin (75%). However, the highest level of susceptibility (100%) was found for vancomycin, cefoxitin, and oxacillin. Furthermore, the methicillin resistance gene (mecA) was highly detected (75%) from the isolates, elucidating oxacillin-susceptible or cefoxitin-susceptible mecA-positive S. aureus (OS-MRSA).
Conclusions: The high rates of OS-MRSA can lead to antibiotic resistance among health care workers tremendously. Moreover, the high similarity probability in phylogenetic analysis shows the possibility of cross-infection between these health care workers, warning to exert effective strategies to control infection spread, especially in the surgery ward.
Background:
Healthcare workers have been known to suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues as a result of their profession. Healthcare professionals were already vulnerable to ...mental health issues prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now they are even more prone to stress and frustration.
Objective:
The study aimed to assess stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, it assessed the relationship between stress, depression, anxiety, burnout, and COVID-19 related stress.
Methods:
A cross-sectional, descriptive, and correlative design was adopted to assess stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout among healthcare workers and determine the relationship among these variables during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results:
The response rate was 87.6% (831 out of 949), the majority of the participants were nurses (87.4%), and 38.4% were working in inpatient settings. The means of COVID-19 related anxiety (17.38 ± 4.95) and burnout (20.16 ± 6.33) were high and tended to be in the upper portion of the total scores. Participants reported moderate to extremely severe levels of stress (26.5%), anxiety (55.8%), and depression (37.2%). Males reported a higher level of stress (16.59 ± 10.21
vs.
13.42 ± 9.98, p = 0.002) and depression (14.97 ± 10.98
vs.
11.42 ± 10.56, p = 0.001). COVID-19 related anxiety was significantly correlated with participants’ professions (p = 0.004). Burnout (p = 0.003) and depression (p = 0.044) were significantly correlated with the participants’ working area. Significant positive correlations were found between stress, depression, anxiety, burnout, and COVID-19 related stress.
Conclusion:
Healthcare workers may experience considerable psychologic distress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic due to providing direct patient care, quarantine, or self-isolation. Healthcare workers who were at high risk of contracting COVID-19 appeared to have psychological distress, burnout, and probably, chronic psychopathology. Frontline staff, especially nurses, were at higher risk of showing higher levels of psychological and mental health issues in the long term.
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