ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is the current topic of discussion globally as people are getting affected by it on a huge scale. This study is focused to determine the concerns and perceptions of healthcare workers (HCWs) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on their mental health, routine work, family and social life. Study was conducted at various health care facilities of Sindh, Pakistan, from October to December 2020 (three months). An online survey questionnaire consisting of fourteen closed-ended questions was designed in Google Forms and circulcalted among the HCWs through email and social media. The data collected was analyzed using SPSS 24 and descriptive statistical tools were used to measure the frequencies and the Chi-square test was applied among correlated variables. Among 412 respondents, majority of the participants were male (54.6%) and young with 18-28 years of age (47.3%). Two-third of HCWs were highly concerned about their family's health versus own health (67.7% vs 44.7% respectively) and 157 (38.1%) were emotionally distressed. It was also found that HCWs with assigned duties in the isolation wards were more emotionally distressed (56.2% high to very high) compared to those not working in isolation units (45.3% high to very high). More than half of HCWs (51.9%) reported that their family life was also disturbed. Our findings indicate that COVID-19 pandemic has a significant psychological impact on frontline soldiers (HCWs) particularly they were worried about family's health. The HCWs who were assigned duties in isolation units were more emotionally distressed than those who were not assigned duties in isolation wards.
ABSTRACT
Objective: COVID-19 has affected millions of people throughout the world and due to the high rate of its spread, it is very vital to protect the people who are at the frontlines of COVID-19 positive cases. In this study, we have analyzed the level of awareness among the Healthcare Workers (HCWs) and level of preparedness by the Healthcare Authorities (HCA) for the safety of HCWs. Study Design: Cross-sectional prospective study. Subjects and Methods: Study was conducted online, for 3 months, from July to September 2020, at various Health Care Facilities (HCF) of Sindh, Pakistan. The survey instrument was circulated among the HCWs and a total of 419 filled forms were received and analyzed using SPSS 24. Results: Out of 419 participants, 54.4% were male and 45.6% female. Half of the respondents were doctors (50.1%) with majority having 1-5 years (61.6%) of experience. It was found that the major sources of information of HCWs about COVID-19 was social media (80.4%) and only 18.6% of HCWs had trainings to deal with pandemics. HCA couldn't manage to maintain adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) as goggle/eye shields were available only to 20.5% HCWs, shoe covers to 24.3%, N95 masks to 28.5%. Conclusion: We identified serious concern in the source of information but despite that the knowledge and awareness level was quite acceptable among our study respondents. However, greater efforts to be taken for training campaigns for HCWs as well as supply of PPE.