Covid-19: risks to healthcare workers and their families

Karlsson, Ulf O.; Fraenkel, Carl-Johan

doi:10.1136/bmj.m3944

Cited by 112 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The fear of contracting the virus revealed in this study was in agreement with previous studies [8,9]. The reasons for their fears were identified as family care in the event of self-isolation or quarantine, risk of infecting loved ones, lack of specific treatment and vaccine for COVID-19 [8,9], and lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) [10,11]. There are documented pieces of evidence that lack of protective equipment puts healthcare workers at risk of getting infected as well as their families [9,12].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Fear, Psychosomatic Symptoms and Satisfaction of Primary Healthcare Workers during the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic in Rivers State Nigeria: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Edet

Harry

Wegbom

et al. 2021

JAMMR

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Introduction: Since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic there has been concerns about the imminent collapse of the health system if healthcare workers are physically, mentally, and socially affected to the point where service delivery is compromised. Therefore, this study investigated the fear, psychosomatic symptoms, and satisfaction of the Primary Healthcare Workers (PHCWs) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Rivers State Nigeria. Methods: A facility cross-sectional survey was conducted involving the primary healthcare workers. Descriptive analysis of mean with standard deviation were reported for continuous variables, frequency and percentage were used to report categorical variables. Results: A total of 412 PHCWs participated in the study (mean age: 39.5±7.5). 223 (54.4%) were sure of going to work, while 260 (63.4%) were afraid of contracting the COVID-19 virus. However, 294 (71.7%) were not stigmatized and 256 (62.4%) were satisfied with their capacity for work. Also, 333 (81.2%), 357(87.3%), and 271(66.6%) were not satisfied with, transportation, money to meet their daily needs, and work environment, respectively. Perceived psychosomatic symptoms by respondents were chest pain (50.0%), stomach upset (38.0%), lump in the throat (40.0%), no feeling of hunger (52.0%), and shortness of breath (32.0%). Anxiety and stress symptoms experienced were inability to concentrate (38.2%), got angry easily (24.9%), worried (48.5%), low mood, anxiety, or depression (24.1%) and afraid of encountering security personnel on their way to work (67.6%). Conclusions: We observed perceived fears, psychosomatic, anxiety, and stress symptoms, as well as low satisfaction among the primary healthcare workers. We suggest that the government and health care agencies should put in place measures that will improve the psychological well-being and mental health of the PHCWs during the pandemic.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Fear, Psychosomatic Symptoms and Satisfaction of Primary Healthcare Workers during the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic in Rivers State Nigeria: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Edet

Harry

Wegbom

et al. 2021

JAMMR

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“…Fear of being infected and infecting others has been commonplace during COVID-19 [ 30 , 31 ] and other pandemics (e.g., SARS [ 32 ]). These fears expressed during the first surge of COVID-19 in the UK were not unfounded [ 33 , 34 , 35 ] and subsequent research shows that during the first three months of the pandemic, healthcare workers in patient-facing roles were three times more likely to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19 than non-patient facing healthcare workers [ 36 ]. Risk was doubled for their household members [ 36 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-Well Study: Qualitative Evaluation of Supported Wellbeing Centres and Psychological First Aid for Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Blake

Gupta

Javed

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Supported wellbeing centres were set up in UK hospital trusts as an early intervention aimed at mitigating the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers. These provided high quality rest spaces with peer-to-peer psychological support provided by National Health Service (NHS) staff volunteers called ‘wellbeing buddies’, trained in psychological first aid. The aim of the study was to explore the views of centre visitors and operational staff towards this COVID-19 workforce wellbeing provision. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twenty-four (20F, 4M) employees from an acute hospital trust in the UK. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed, data were handled and analysed using thematic analysis. Interviews generated 3 over-arching themes, and 13 sub-themes covering ‘exposure and job roles’, ‘emotional impacts of COVID-19 and ‘the wellbeing centres’. Supported wellbeing centres were viewed as critical for the wellbeing of hospital employees during the first surge of COVID-19 in the UK. Wellbeing initiatives require managerial advocacy and must be inclusive. Job-related barriers to work breaks and accessing staff wellbeing provisions should be addressed. High quality rest spaces and access to peer-to-peer support are seen to benefit individuals, teams, organisations and care quality. Training NHS staff in psychological first aid is a useful approach to supporting the wellbeing of the NHS workforce during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“…Travel restrictions have caused challenges and uncertainties to foreign domestic workers, many of whom are women [29]. Informal care providers are often not directly protected by legal measures for health protection or adequate infectious disease control training [30]. In Muslim communities, evidence has shown that women are more likely to wear face coverings in public for religious reasons, but not in their houses while caring for others, while men wear masks for hygiene both inside and outdoors [31].…”

Section: Residual Risk Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflection of Challenges and Opportunities within the COVID-19 Pandemic to Include Biological Hazards into DRR Planning

Chan

Dubois

Fong³

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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COVID-19 has reinforced the need to revisit the integration of health within disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies for biological hazards in a system-wide approach. In November 2020, DRR experts attended the Asia-Pacific Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction (APP-DRR) Forum to share progress and learnings in the areas of health system resilience, data management, residual risk management, risk communication, digital literacy, and knowledge product marketing. Advancements for health in DRR included the importance of multi-sectoral, multi-hazard action plans; adaptation to technological advancements in data collection, dissemination and protection; promoting the health and wellbeing of essential and nonprofessional workers; and improving inclusivity in digital literacy. COVID-19 has affected progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and created a unique opportunity within DRR to re-evaluate the adequacy of response mechanisms against concurrent, cascading or interacting risks of future biological hazards. Health emergency disaster risk management (Health-EDRM) is a new World Health Organization paradigm that includes DRR at intra-, inter- and multidisciplinary levels. Scientific advancement under Health-EDRM is necessary for health and non-health actors in DRR education and research. Continuous education on the multifaceted risk governance is a key to building awareness, capacity and accelerating towards achieving the international DRR and the SDG targets.

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Covid-19: risks to healthcare workers and their families

Cited by 112 publications

References 16 publications

Fear, Psychosomatic Symptoms and Satisfaction of Primary Healthcare Workers during the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic in Rivers State Nigeria: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Fear, Psychosomatic Symptoms and Satisfaction of Primary Healthcare Workers during the First Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic in Rivers State Nigeria: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

COVID-Well Study: Qualitative Evaluation of Supported Wellbeing Centres and Psychological First Aid for Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Reflection of Challenges and Opportunities within the COVID-19 Pandemic to Include Biological Hazards into DRR Planning

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