Determinants of COVID-19 infection prevention practices among employees of a medical center in NCR, Philippines

ABSTRACT

Background@#The COVID-19 pandemic became a severe public health threat to the Philippines, overwhelming the health system and its healthcare workers. As infections spread globally, it became imperative to understand the infection prevention practices (e.g., face mask-wearing, handwashing, social distancing) to better understand the pandemic and its effects on the healthcare workforce.@*Objective@#The study aims to describe the sociodemographic and medical profile and the COVID-19 infection prevention practices, and the correlation between both among employees of a medical center in the National Capital Region (NCR), Philippines,@*Methods@#The analytic cross-sectional study utilized an online survey administered to employees of a medical center in NCR, Philippines. A total of 112 responses were analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze respondents’ sociodemographic and medical characteristics and summarize their COVID-19 infection prevention practices. Spearman’s rank correlation and Pearson’s chi-square tests were performed to determine the association of the respondents’ sociodemographic and medical profiles with their corresponding infection prevention practices.@*Results@#Majority of respondents were between ages 30-50 (52.68%), female (71.43%), with college (83.93%) as their highest educational attainment, single (70.54%), and without comorbidities (66.07%). 76.5% (72/94) of respondents living in multi-person households lived with familial ties, and 59.6% (56/94) of respondents living in a multi-person household lived with at least one member considered a high-risk individual (i.e., a senior citizen with comorbidities). The respondents practiced face mask-wearing (4.92) and respiratory etiquette (4.90) the most, whereas reduction of unnecessary outings (3.81), not drinking alcohol (3.81), and sleeping at least 7 hours per day (3.42) were least practiced. Results showed that only age and having chronic kidney disease correlated with infection prevention practices with a p-value of <0.05, showing that people with chronic kidney disease and those aged 30-50 were more likely to engage in infection prevention practices.@*Conclusion@#The study findings provide insight into sociodemographic and medical factors that may contribute to adherence to infection prevention practices among the hospital-based workforce. Recommendations for further research were discussed.