Occupational stress among non-clinical healthcare staff at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica during COVID-19

Objective: To understand how non-clinical healthcare workers at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica experience occupational stress during the COVID- 19 pandemic. Design and Methods: This qualitative exploratory study was conducted using semi-structured interviews and a focus group. The 12 research participants were employees at the University Hospital of the West Indies who were nonclinical healthcare professionals such as housekeepers and administrative staff. Data analysis was completed manually in Microsoft Excel concurrently with QCAmap using the principles of qualitative content analysis. Ethical approval was granted for this study by the University of Essex Online Ethics Committee and the Mona Campus Research Ethics Committee. Result(s): There were three significant findings in this study. First, the events and conditions in the workplace which cause occupational stress among the sample during the pandemic occurred in three layers, latent, manifest, and antecedent. Secondly, there is an interrelation between occupational stress and the cultural, social, and financial situations in the participants' lives. That is, each component is related to one another which altogether contributes to the overall experience of occupational stress. Third, managers should demonstrate their interest in the well-being of non-clinical healthcare professionals by taking a risk-based approach to provide effective psychological support during the COVID- 19 pandemic. Conclusion(s): Non-clinical healthcare workers experience occupational stress similar to clinical healthcare workers and their psychological needs should be given similar priority.

Should I stay or should I go? An exploration of the decision-making behavior of acute cardiac patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: During the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic efforts to reduce virus transmission resulted in non-emergency patients being deterred from seeking help. The number of patients presenting with acute cardiac conditions reduced, significantly OBJECTIVES: To explore the decision-making process, and influential factors in that process, of patients and their family during an acute cardiac event. METHODS: A qualitative research design was employed using purposive sampling of patients who experienced an acute cardiac event during the social containment mandates. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, with thematic analysis of interview transcripts. RESULTS: Twenty-five participants were recruited from three UK hospitals. Themes identified were reliance on informal support network, lack of awareness of cardiac symptoms leading to delayed help-seeking, and an indirect COVID-19 effect (e.g. avoiding treatment). CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the need for informed public health messages, targeting patients and their support networks, that allow those in need of treatment to access care.

Viruses, variants and vaccines.

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has brought a number of major global clinical, sociological and economic issues into sharp focus. We address some of these issues, focusing on short-term factors such as virus mutations and vaccine efficacy, and also considering the longer-term implications of the current pandemic. We discuss societal responses to the presence of a pathogen that will probably remain in circulation for decades or longer, and to future new emergent viruses.

Research in COVID-19 times: The way forward

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on research at universities. Universities around the world, including in South Africa, have been or are still closed as part of national lockdown strategies. Students have not been attending classes or doing hands-on experimental work, and students and academics have been working from home. Many thousands of students have had their university education interrupted, and for them, the resumption of learning programmes online, and where possible in research laboratories, is critically important. There is no question that as we emerge from lockdown we will not be entering a world that resembles a 'norm' as lived in the pre-COVID-19 era, and many changes will be required. Here we discuss the importance of research, the urgency to get things up and running again, and strategies that will need to be implemented to ensure that research activities continue. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that students and staff are not exposed to risk in their research endeavours, which will require the development and implementation of risk management plans.