Roles and challenges of primary healthcare workers: lessons learned from COVID-19 pandemic.

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the structure of the healthcare system. As a response to the pandemic, the ministry of health applied many changes to the primary healthcare system. These changes created new challenges for healthcare workers (HCWs). Aims: To identify the roles and challenges of practitioners in primary healthcare (PHC) centers during COVID-19 in Al-Baha city, Saudi Arabia, in 2022. Methods and Materials: An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out in 2022 in Al-Baha city, Saudi Arabia. An electronic online questionnaire was distributed formally to HCWs in PHC centers. All primary HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Al-Baha city, Saudi Arabia, were included. Results: A total of 424 responses were analyzed. Half (50.7%) of the participants had fieldwork roles during the pandemic. The two most commonly agreed-upon challenges were stress (78.7%) and worry about getting infected (79.8%). The majority (74.4%) of the participants' roles involved direct contact with suspected COVID-19 cases, whereas 50.9% involved direct contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases. Direct contact with confirmed cases showed a significant association with worrying about getting infected (P = 0.019). Conclusions: Workload, overtime, conflict ambiguity, fear of getting and transmitting the infection, stress, and lack of personal protective equipment were challenges faced by the primary HCWs, which negatively impacted the quality of delivered services and mental health. We recommend facilitating access of primary HCWs to psychiatric clinics to improve stress and help cope with new roles during the pandemics and changes in the healthcare system.

Practices and Attitudes of Dental Practitioners toward Patient Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

Background: Exploring practices and attitudes of dental staff toward the COVID-19 pandemic is critically important;however, little is known about this territory of research. Aim: The aim of this study is, first, to evaluate practices and attitudes of dental practitioners during the COVID-19 outbreak and, second, to examine associations between several demographic characteristics in relation to dental workers' practices and attitudes in Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: A national dental survey using a pre-designed and validated practices and attitudes electronic questionnaire (PADPs-EQ) was conducted in Saudi Arabia between April and May 2020. Mean PADPs-EQ scores, descriptive analysis, Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and correlations between participants' demographic characteristics and responses were used as appropriate. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (R) software (version 20.0). Results: A total of 567 participants were included. The overall mean and standard deviation of the PADPs-EQ scores was 74.5 +/- 15.2, which indicates a moderate level of participants' practices and attitudes. All demographic items significantly influenced participants' practices and attitudes (p<0.0001). Most participants had some critical practices that were not always implemented as suggested by the Saudi Dental Emergency Protocol (SDEP) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: An obvious deficit in implementing the SDEP was observed. Developing effective strategies for improving dentists' practices and attitudes may be recommended. Emphasis on updating current courses related to preventive dentistry in dental schools and an increasing number of required continuing education hours and workshops related to infection control may also be advocated.