Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 6, 2022; 10(16): 5275-5286
Published online Jun 6, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i16.5275
Health care worker occupational experiences during the COVID-19 outbreak: A cross-sectional study
Xiao-Fang Li, Xuan-Lin Zhou, Sheng-Xiu Zhao, Yue-Mei Li, Shi-Qin Pan
Xiao-Fang Li, Sheng-Xiu Zhao, Yue-Mei Li, Shi-Qin Pan, Department of Nursing, Qinghai Provincial People’s Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China
Xuan-Lin Zhou, Department of Neurosurgery, Qinghai Provincial People’s Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao SX formulated research directions, guided the writing of the paper, reviewed and revised the first draft, and provided funding for the project; Li XF and Zhou XL wrote the first draft; Li XF reviewed and revised the first draft; Zhou XL and Li YM contributed to the data collection; Zhou XL and Pan SQ analyzed the data; Zhou XL submitted and revised the manuscript.
Supported by the Qinghai Province Science and Technology Department Project, No. 2020-SF-154.
Institutional review board statement: After review by the ethics committee of the hospital, this project complies with the Ministry of Health’s “Measures for the Ethical Review of Biomedical Research Involving People (Trial)” and the relevant provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki on biological human trials, and it is agreed to conduct research.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants who were also informed that study participation was voluntary and that their refusal to participate would have no negative consequences.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: The findings of this study is openly available for other studies but not commercial activities.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sheng-Xiu Zhao, MNurs, Associate Chief Technician, Nurse, Department of Nursing, Qinghai Provincial People’s Hospital, No. 2 Gonghe Road, Chengdong District, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China. hlbhappy@126.com
Received: August 18, 2021
Peer-review started: August 18, 2021
First decision: November 1, 2021
Revised: December 5, 2021
Accepted: April 29, 2022
Article in press: April 29, 2022
Published online: June 6, 2022
Processing time: 288 Days and 2.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Health care workers treating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients experience burnout and stress due to overwork and poor working conditions.

AIM

To investigate the work experiences of frontline health care workers in Wuhan city and Qinghai province, China, during the COVID-19 outbreak.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional descriptive study, a self-reported questionnaire was designed to evaluate work experiences of medical staff throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 178 health care workers responded to the questionnaire between February 19 and 29, 2020. Higher questionnaire dimen-sional score confirmed dimensional advantage.

RESULTS

Of all dimensions evaluated by this questionnaire, the occupational value dimension had the highest mean score of 2.61 (0.59), followed by the support/security dimension score of 2.30 (0.74). Occupational protection scored lowest at 1.44 (0.75), followed by work environment at 1.97 (0.81). The social relationships dimension had an intermediate score of 2.06 (0.80). Significant differences in working conditions were observed across hospital departments, with the fever ward scoring lowest. Total scores also differed significantly across workplaces; the fever outpatient department scored lowest (P < 0.01). This phenomenon was likely due to the fact that work in the fever outpatient department, where many patients present to hospital, necessitates constant contact with a large number of individuals with insufficient provision of resources (such as protective equipment and social support). Medical workers in the fever outpatient department were burdened with a fear of COVID-19 infection and a lower sense of professional value as compared to workers in other hospital departments. Medical staff in Wuhan worked longer hours (P < 0.01) as compared to elsewhere. The mean support/security dimension score was higher for tertiary hospital as compared to secondary hospital medical staff as well as for Wuhan area as compared to Qinghai region staff (P < 0.01). Staff in Wuhan had a lower mean work environment score as compared to staff in Qinghai (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Medical staff treating COVID-19 patients in China report poor occupational experiences strongly affected by work environment, occupational protection and social relationships. Health care managers must address the occupational needs of medical staff by ensuring a supportive and safe work environment.

Keywords: Novel coronavirus; COVID-19; Health care worker; Occupational exposure; Personal protective equipment

Core Tip: Several studies have reported on mental health care and infection prevention for health care workers, but there has been no research on the experiences of health care workers during the early stage of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, when little was known about the disease. We developed a questionnaire to evaluate health care workers’ work experiences consisting of five domains: Support/security, work environment, occupational protection, and social relationships, and occupational value. Health care workers treating COVID-19 patients in China had poor work experiences overall. Health care managers should address the problems faced by health care workers by providing high-quality personal protective equipment and adequate training and ensuring a supportive and safe work environment.