An assessment on loss of workforce due to COVID-19 among healthcare personnel: A university hospital experience

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Healthcare personnel are among the COVID-19 risk groups. For this reason, increased absence from work affects the loss of labor. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the workforce loss amongst health personnel working in our hospital due to COVID-19 in a one-year period. METHODS: Workforce loss of healthcare workers was assessed via absenteeism and life expectancy. Loss of workforce for COVID-19 PCR positive or PCR negative but CT findings compatible with COVID-19 and personnel with high-risk exposure for COVID-19 were determined with absenteeism. Healthcare personnel who passed away due to COVID-19 was determined with the consideration of the retirement age and expected life years. RESULTS: Total lost time from work was 14635 days (excluding deaths). Loss of workforce rates resulting from COVID-19 positivity for male employees was greater in comparison to the results for females (p = 0.018). High-risk exposure of healthcare personnel working in clinical sciences was higher than those in other departments (p < 0.001). Total loss in workforce for 3 people passed away was 14 years 5 months, and total life expectancy was 64 years. Healthcare personnel under the age of 40 had less absenteeism than those over 40 years (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: It was observed that all occupational groups working at the hospital were impacted by COVID-19. The two most important factors that influenced absenteeism were the reason for being affected (positivity and high risk) and age. Absenteeism and daily case tracing of healthcare personnel working on the frontlines will aid in both the pandemic control and management of workload for those left behind.

Absenteeism of Healthcare Personnel in the COVID-19 Era: A Systematic Review of the Literature and Implications for the Post-Pandemic Seasons

“…Nineteen articles reporting original data on COVID-19-associated absenteeism among HCP were identified [3,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. The characteristics of these articles and their main findings are shown in Table 1.…”

“…Similarly, in a teaching hospital in Brazil, younger cleaning staff took more sick leaves due to suspected COVID-19 compared with older staff [30]. In contrast, significantly higher absenteeism rates for HCP older than 40 years were recorded in a hospital in Turkey compared with younger HCP [23].…”

The association of burnout with work absenteeism and the frequency of thoughts in leaving their job in a cohort of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Likewise, another study showed that on average, HCWs took 12.5 absent days after having a COVID-19 infection ( 38 ). A study in Turkey ( 39 ) showed that there was a total lost time from work of 14,635 days in their HCWs across the span of 1 year (2020–2021). A study in Brazil ( 40 ) showed that absenteeism due to a medical reason increased from 633 individuals to 837 from 2019 to 2020, in which nursing assistants were reported to have the highest frequency of medical leave.…”

Evaluation of work conditions of nurses employed in a shift system in hospital wards during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…A group of researchers from Turkey, based on a study conducted during 2020/2021 at the University Hospital of Istanbul among medical staff taking care of patients with COVID-19, confirmed an increase in absenteeism and loss of manpower. The researchers did not take shift work into account [ 13 ].…”