Introduction
This study examines the frequency, associated factors, and characteristics of healthcare personnel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in a healthcare department that comprises a tertiary hospital and its associated 12 primary healthcare centers.
Methods
This study included healthcare personnel that showed symptoms or were in contact with a COVID-19 case patient from March 2 to April 19, 2020. Their evolution and characteristics (age, sex, professional category, type of contact) were recorded. Correlations between the different characteristics and risk of developing COVID-19 and severe COVID-19 were analyzed using chi-square tests. Their magnitudes were quantified with ORs, AORs, and their 95% CIs using a logistic regression model.
Results
Of the 3,900 healthcare professionals in the department, 1,791 (45.9%) showed symptoms or were part of a contact tracing study. The prevalence of those with symptoms was 20.1% (784/3,900; 95% CI=18.8%, 21.4%), with COVID-19 was 4.0% (156/3,900; 95% CI=3.4%, 4.6%), and with severe COVID-19 was 0.5% (18/3,900; 95% CI=0.2%, 0.7%). The frequency of COVID-19 in symptomatic healthcare personnel with a non-protected exposure was 22.8% (112/491) and 13.7% (40/293) in those with a protected exposure (AOR=2.2, 95% CI=1.2, 3.9). The service in which the healthcare personnel performed their activity was not significantly associated with being diagnosed with COVID-19. A total of 26.3% (10/38) of male healthcare personnel with COVID-19 required hospitalization, compared with 6.8% (8/118) among female healthcare personnel (OR=4.9, 95% CI=1.8, 13.6).
Conclusions
A surveillance and monitoring program centered around healthcare personnel enables an understanding of the risk factors that lead to COVID-19 among this population. This knowledge allows the refinement of the strategies for disease control and prevention in healthcare personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
RESUMENIntroducción. La higiene de manos (HM) es la medida más importante para prevenir las infecciones nosocomiales. El objetivo es evaluar el programa de actualización de las recomendaciones sobre HM implantado. Resultados. La frecuencia de respuestas inadecuadas para evaluar NC pasó de un 57,5% antes a 18,9% después (p<0,001). El CSA para HM pasó de 3 ml/estancia en 2º semestre/2004 a 17 ml/estancia en 2º semestre/2006 (p<0,001). El GCR ha pasado del 31,0% al 55,6% (p<0,001). La PI y PPI han pasado del 11,4% y el 9,6% respectivamente en el 2004 al 9,4% y 8,9% en 2006 (N.S.).Conclusión. El programa está consiguiendo de manera progresiva sus objetivos ya que los tres indicadores de proceso (NC, CSA, GC) han mejorado de manera estadísticamente significativa, y los de resultado (PI y PPI) han mejorado aunque sin significación estadística.Palabras clave. Higiene Manos. Consumo soluciones alcohólicas. Grado cumplimiento. Frecuencia infecciones nosocomiales. Evaluación programas.
ABSTRACTBackground. Hand Hygiene (HH) is the most important measure in the prevention of nosocomial infections. The objective was to evaluate the program for updating recommendations on HH that had been introduced.
Background
Although recommendations to prevent COVID-19 healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have been proposed, data on their effectivity are currently limited.
Objective
The aim was to evaluate the effectivity of a program of control and prevention of COVID-19 in an academic general hospital in Spain.
Methods
We captured the number of COVID-19 cases and the type of contact that occurred in hospitalized patients and healthcare personnel (HCP). To evaluate the impact of the continuous use of a surgical mask among HCP, the number of patients with COVID-19 HAIs and accumulated incidence of HCP with COVID-19 was compared between the preintervention and intervention periods.
Results
Two hundred fifty-two patients with COVID-19 have been admitted to the hospital. Seven of them had an HAI origin (6 in the preintervention period and 1 in the intervention period). One hundred forty-two HCP were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Of them, 22 (15.5%) were attributed to healthcare (2 in the emergency department and none in the critical care departments), and 120 (84.5%) were attributed to social relations in the workplace or during their non–work-related personal interactions. The accumulated incidence during the preintervention period was 22.3 for every 1000 HCP and 8.2 for every 1000 HCP during the intervention period. The relative risk was 0.37 (95% confidence interval, 0.25 to 0.55) and the attributable risk was −0.014 (95% confidence interval, −0.020 to −0.009).
Conclusions
A program of control and prevention of HAIs complemented with the recommendation for the continuous use of a surgical mask in the workplace and social environments of HCP effectively decreased the risk of COVID-19 HAIs in admitted patients and HCP.
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