Gender differences on perceptions of health risks and adaptation of climate change among primary healthcare workers in Guangdong Province / 环境与职业医学

Background Climate change has resulted in long-term impacts on human health. Implementing efficient adaptation strategies among primary healthcare facilities is well determined by whether staff of different genders recognize the health risks related to climate change and are willing to take active measures. Objective To investigate gender differences on perceptions of health risks and attitude towards adaptation strategies among primary healthcare workers in China, and provide relevant suggestions. Methods By adopting a multi-stage cluster sampling method, we selected 21 urban and 10 rural healthcare facilities in Guangdong Province to collect information with a questionnaire. Then chi-square test, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and logistic regression analysis were used to explore the gender differences in climate change-related health risk cognition, knowledge acquisition channels, attitudes towards adaptation strategies, main obstacles, and resource requirements among the healthcare workers. Results Of 733 participants, 38.47% (282 participants) were male and 61.53% (451 participants) were female. The percentages of male healthcare workers who agreed that climate change is happening and recognized the causes of climate change (70.21%, 60.99%) were higher than the percentages of female counterparts (59.87%, 49.00%) (both Ps＜0.05), but no obvious gender differences existed in recognizing health risks of heatwaves and infectious diseases as well as sensitive population identification (all Ps＞0.05). Most of the participants (92.50%) received climate change and health-related information from mass media like TV, radio, and newspapers. Meanwhile less men chose new media channels than women (OR=0.62, 95%CI∶ 0.41-0.94). Only 30.56% of the participants (33.69% of men and 28.60% of women) reported involvement of relevant training and lectures. Most of them (90.96%) agreed to take active measures to deal with the health threats associated with climate change without gender differences for various measures (all Ps＞0.05). The leading obstacles were hard to integrate health adaptation to climate change into main work of institutions (most female agreed, 72.28%) and the lack of funds (most male agreed, 77.66%). Increasing funding for primary health care was regarded as the most needed resource by male (86.88%) and female (89.14%). After controlling the influence of other social factors, more men agreed with the lack of funds than women (OR=1.57, 95%CI∶ 1.10-2.24). Conclusion There are some gender differences in the perceptions of health risks and adaptation strategies of climate change among primary healthcare workers: Male staff are more likely to agree with climate change and regard the lack of funds as the main obstacle, while women prefer to choose new media channels to obtain information. It’s suggested that the government and relevant institutions focus on the learning and training of climate change and health-related knowledge and expand diversified information access, and promote capacity building to cope with health threats at grass-root level, in the light of recognized gender differences among primary healthcare workers.

Level of Preparedness for COVID-19 by Primary Healthcare Workers in Rivers State, Nigeria: A Facility Cross-sectional Survey

Introduction:The primary healthcare workers (PHCWs) may be faced with a higher risk of infection of COVID-19, due to inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and lack of training on the disease control and prevention. This study was designated to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of PHCWs about COVID-19 in Rivers State, Nigeria.Original Research Article Methods:A facility cross-sectional survey was conducted involving the primary healthcare workers in Rivers State, Nigeria. The association between the KAP and demographic characteristics were tested with the Chi-square test, while the association existing among KAP were evaluated with Pearson correlation coefficient. Statistical significance was evaluated at P<0.05.Results:The proportion of respondents with good scores in knowledge, attitude, and COVID-19 related practices are 86.4% (10.66 ± 2.40), 85.0% (8.28 ± 1.94), and 97.3% (8.34 ± 1.39) respectively. Gender, occupation, and years of experience are associated with knowledge, whilst years of experience and marital status are associated with the attitude and level preventive practices; knowledge score also has significant positive linear associations with both attitude (=0.35,<0.05)and practices (=0.11,<0.05)scores towards COVID-19. Conclusion:Based on these findings, we suggest that public health education programs should be sustained, and staff should be expose to more training and workshop regarding COVID-19 preventive practices. Furthermore, adequate personnel preventive equipment should bedeployed at the primary healthcare facilities, as this will instill the right attitude and confidence in carrying out their duties without the fear of contracting the disease

Level of Awareness and Adherence to Injection Safety Practices among Primary Healthcare Providers in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria

Introduction: Problems associated with adherence to safeinjection administration among healthcare providers are onthe rise especially among primary health care workers. Thereis therefore the need to assess the level of awareness andadherence to the practice of injection safety among healthworkers in Primary health Centers in Calabar Municipality,Cross River State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were todetermine the level of awareness and adherence to the indicesof safe injection practices in the study area.Material and methods: It was a cross sectional descriptivesurvey. A total of 398 health workers were sampled from apopulation of 245,681 health workers in the five Primary healthcenters in Calabar municipality using multistage samplingtechnique. All of the health workers including the cleaners andsupport staff were selected for the study. Data was collectedusing a four sectioned semi-structured questionnaire and thedata was analyzed using Statistical package for social studies(SPSS) version 21.0. For awareness and practice of injectionsafety, the data was marked and scored and dichotomized forgood and poor level of awareness and good and bad adherenceto safety practices.Result: The result revealed that a total of 89.9% of the healthworkers had good level of awareness of injection safety withthe laboratory technicians having 100% knowledge. This wasstatistically significant X2=26.9, p=0.00. A total of 59.5% ofthe health workers had good practice of injection safety withthe laboratory technician having the least with 30%. X2 = 30, p= 0.00. There was statistically significant association of levelof awareness with level of adherence to practice of injectionsafety χ2 = 30; p-value = 0.00.Conclusion: The level of awareness of injection safetypractices among health workers was high but their adherenceto the practice of care was not commensurate with theawareness. Therefore, other measures should be adoptedto improve practice of safe injection administration amongprimary health care workers in the study area.

Oral health knowledge and practices among primary healthcare workers in Shimla District, Himachal Pradesh, India

Primary healthcare workers being grassroot workers in rural areas can be effective in oral health promotion in these areas. Aim: To assess oral health knowledge and practices among primary healthcare workers in Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh. Setting and Design: A cross-sectional study. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess oral health knowledge and practices of primary healthcare workers in Shimla using a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical Analysis Used: Data were analyzed using SPSS package version 16. The tests used were t-test and Fisher's exact test. A P value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Of 130 subjects, there were 60 (46.2%) males and 70 (53.8%) females. The mean age of the population was 48.4 ± 5.9 with a range of 25–57. The mean knowledge score percent of the population was 51.9 ± 18.2. It was higher for males (52.3 ± 15.0) when compared with females (51.5 ± 20.7). The mean knowledge score percent was positively associated with education and negatively associated with age. Tooth brush was used by 97.7% and tooth paste by 121 (93.1%). The frequency of brushing twice was reported by 79 (60.8%). Conclusion: Though the overall knowledge about oral health is good among primary healthcare workers, the understanding about various aspects is lacking. Therefore, it is recommended that health workers should be given education to enhance knowledge and practices toward oral healthcare and to increase their screening capacity for common dental problem which will serve the community in long way.

An investigation on the ability in diagnosing and reporting brucellosis of primary medical personnel in Suide County of Shaanxi Province / 中华地方病学杂志

Objective To investigate the ability in diagnosing and reporting brucellosis of primary medical personnel in Suide County of Shaanxi Province,and provide scientific basis for making prevention and control strategies.Methods Convenience sampling method was adopted in October 2016.A questionnaire survey was conducted among the county hospitals,township hospitals,village clinics and individual clinics in Suide County to collect information on the ability in diagnosing and reporting brucellosis of primary medical personnel.The specific content includes the basic information,the awareness of brucellosis diagnosis and reporting capabilities,the situation of brucellosis training,and the views about the diagnosis of brucellosis.SPSS 18.0 software was used to carry out descriptive statistical analysis.Results A total of 77 primary healthcare workers were surveyed.Their average age was (38 ± 9) years old,57.1％ (44/77) workers were undergraduates,and 53.2％ (41/77) were working in county hospitals.9.1％ (7/77) were completely aware of the major infectious diseases,29.9％ (23/77) were fully aware of the transmission mute,28.6％ (22/77) and 66.2％ (51/77) known the high risk population and the epidemiological history of brucellosis.Twenty-six percent (20/77) of the medical staff were thoroughly aware of the main clinical manifestations,68.8％ (53/77) were clearly aware of the clinical stage of brucellosis;24.7％ (19/77) could understand the specificity of the laboratory tests of brucellosis;44.2％ (34/77) had a strong ability in reporting brucellosis.71.4％ (55/77) of the medical staff received the training about the knowledge of brucellosis;49.4％ (38/77) thought that the clinical manifestation was the most difficult to grasp in the criteria about diagnosis of brucellosis.Conclusions The ability of diagnosis and reporting of brucellosis is weak in primary healthcare workers in Suide County,the epidemiology and clinical knowledge of brucellosis are not comprehensive.It is suggested to strengthen the understanding of brucellosis among medical staff,especially in primary healthcare workers.We should carry out the training of disease epidemiology and clinical knowledge of brucellosis and standardize patient management.

Analysis of key stakeholders of the policy“Residents service or employment at primary care institutions after standardized training” / 中华医院管理杂志

Policy background and stakeholder theory were elaborated.It could be concluded that the key stakeholders of the policy were residents,training hospitals,healthcare administrators,primary healthcare institutions and patients of such institutions.Through analysis of these stakeholders,effects on the interests of all parties were investigated and strategies to improve feasibility of the policy were put forward.Two key points were suggested for such policy goals.First,top-level policies should be designed and be effectively implemented.Second,conversion of the residents from permanent hospital employees to “contractors”or“ freelancers”.