ABSTRACT
Objective: To investigate the psychological resilience of medical staff participating in nucleic acid sampling outside hospital during the COVID-19 epidemic and its influence factors. Methods: A total of 197 medical staff in a general tertiary hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong were selected by convenience sampling method and survey with the general data questionnaire, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ). Statistical analysis was performed using multiple linear regression analysis. Results: The total score of resilience of these staff was (69.95 +or- 12.85) points. Correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between psychological resilience and positive response, self-efficacy(P < 0.01). The multiple linear regression analysis showed that: compared with medical staff without professional titles, medical staff with intermediate professional title or above had a high level of psychological flexibility (beta = 0.150, 0.145, P < 0.05);compared with medical staff with sampling time less than 4 h, the psychological resilience level of those with sampling time longer than 4 h was lower (beta = -0.143, P < 0.05);the medical staff who can respond positively had higher psychological resilience (beta = 0.422, P < 0.01);and the medical staff with higher levels of self-efficacy had higher psychological resilience (beta = 0.296, P < 0.01). Conclusions: Medical staff participating in nucleic acid sampling during the COVID-19 epidemic had low psychological resilience. Managers should improve the emergency management mechanism, strengthen the relevant knowledge training and timely psychological counseling to promote their physical and mental health.
ABSTRACT
A proper ventilation strategy in an isolation ward could promote better indoor air quality for the occupants. This could also reduce the risk of immunocompromised patients contracting healthcare-associated infections (HAI) or airborne diseases such as COVID-19, tuberculosis, and measles among others. This study aims to propose and examine appropriate ventilation strategies in a single-patient isolation ward that can reduce particle settlement in patients. A simplified CFD model of the isolation ward was developed and well-validated against established data. An RNG k-ε model and discrete phase model (DPM) were used to simulate airflow and particle transportation. The study examined the airflow and particle dispersion under a baseline case and four proposed ventilation strategies. Results showed that the baseline case study, which used the ceiling-mounted air curtain was insufficient to prevent the particles from dispersing into the vicinity of the patient. Likewise, the dilution effect under the baseline case and case 4 (wall-mounted air supply diffuser) were relatively weak due to the low air change rate (ACH) of 4/hr and 9/hr respectively. The ventilation strategy in case 4 has a negligible effect on reducing the particles (14%) settling on the patient although the ACH in case 4 was 2-times the baseline case. The present finding ascertains that utilising the combination of ceiling-mounted air diffuser and air curtain jet (case 3) results in zero particle settlement on both patient's and the patient's bed. It also reduced 57% of particles in the vicinity of the medical staff's breathing zone compared to the baseline case.