COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers in the University Clinical Hospital in Wroclaw, Poland

Abstract

Efforts to limit severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections among hospital healthcare staff are crucial for controlling the Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemics. The study aimed to explore the prevalence and clinical presentations of COVID-19 in healthcare workers (HCWs) at the University Clinical Hospital (UCH) in Wroclaw with 1677 beds. The retrospective study was performed in 2020 using a self-derived structured questionnaire in a sample of HCWs who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed using a PCR double gene test and consented to be enrolled into the study. The significance level for all statistical tests was set to 0.05. The study showed that of the 4998 hospital workers, among 356 cases reported as COVID-19 infected, 70 consented to take part in the survey: nurses (48.5%), doctors (17.1%), HCWs with patient contact (10.0%), other HCWs without patient contact (7.1%), and cleaning personnel (5.7%). HCWs reported concurrent diseases such as hypertension (17.1%), bronchial asthma (5.7%), and diabetes (5.7%). Failure to keep 2 m distancing during contact (65.5%) and close contact with the infected person 14 days before the onset of symptoms or collection of biological material (58.6%) were identified as the increased risks of infection. A large part of infections in hospital healthcare staff were symptomatic (42.9%). The first symptoms of COVID-19 were general weakness (42.9%), poor mental condition (41.4%), and muscle pain (32.9%); whereas in the later stages of the illness, general weakness (38.6%), coughing (34.3%), lack of appetite (31.4%), and loss of taste (31.4%) were observed. In about 30% of the infected HCWs, there was no COVID-19 symptoms whatsoever. The vast majority of the patients were treated at home (85.7%). In conclusion, the majority of the SARS-CoV-2 infections in the hospital HCWs were asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. Therefore, successful limitation of COVID-19 infection spread at hospitals requires a close attention to future cross-infections.

An Instrumental Variable Probit Modeling of COVID-19 Vaccination Compliance in Malawi

“…This in line with the findings of Kao et al [ 9 ] that less costly preventive measure can be easily adopted by individuals against disease infection. Another study by Drobnik et al [ 43 ] emphasized the role of face masks in preventing transmission of the coronavirus among healthcare workers. This is a very vital point in Malawi’s context, being one of the poorest countries in the world, with the majority of people depending on daily informal businesses and farm activities.…”

Current Attitudes Toward Neuroanatomy: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Survey of Neurosurgeons from the United Kingdom and Worldwide

“…These differences could represent the variable rates of infection among healthcare staff between countries, and differing levels of anatomy learning opportunities available at institutional or regional levels. [54][55][56][57][58] Despite the positive response to online teaching during the pandemic, the inability to replicate a cadaveric or operative experience as well as technical issues and webinar overload 59 means that virtual neuroanatomy learning may not su ce as a complete learning method.…”

Factors associated with complications from COVID-19 in hospital workers: A retrospective cohort study

“…En otras investigaciones solo aplican la toma de muestras a pacientes sintomáticos, mientras que en la institución se incluía además a los trabajadores que referían un contacto directo con un caso sospechoso o confirmado de COVID-19. La población predominantemente afectada fue el sexo femenino, y adultos entre 30 y 59 años de edad, lo que es compatible con la mayoría de hallazgos sociodemográficos en el personal de salud de distintas partes del mundo [10,[14][15][16][17][18], ya que gran parte del personal que labora en la institución se encuentra dentro de este perfil demográfico.…”

“…Por otra parte, del total de trabajadores afectados se encontró que 57 de ellos presentaron alguna comorbilidad. Tal como señalan múltiples estudios, las enfermedades crónicas encontradas más frecuentemente fueron la hipertensión arterial, enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica, diabetes mellitus tipo 2 y otras enfermedades cardiovasculares [10,17,19,22]. Asimismo, nuestros hallazgos evidenciaron que una cuarta parte de los trabajadores desarrollaron complicación por COVID-19.…”