ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a major threat to public health in the present century. In this situation, adherence to preventive behaviors seriously impacts the prevention of viral diseases. The present study aims to investigate adherence to public health preventive instructions in patients infected with COVID-19 before contracting the disease. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from November 2020 to March 2021 in Fars province. 3242 patients infected with COVID-19 were selected via multistage sampling. Data were collected using a demographic information form and a researcher-made questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by Stata v. 14 using the chi-square test. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The average age of participants was 38.45±13.07 years. 48.80% had a high rate, 47.90% had a moderate rate, and only 3.30% had a low compliance rate with COVID-19 preventive instructions. The patients' main reason for not following preventive behaviors was having to be present in busy places (41.1%). There was a significant correlation between the participants' age, gender, place of residence, occupation, education, history of underlying diseases (P≤0.001), marital status (P=0.041), and use of masks with a rate of adherence to preventive behaviors(P≤0.001). In the random forest, the job represents 36.75% compliance with COVID-19 preventive guidelines. Conclusion: Therefore, by raising public awareness, healthcare policymakers and administrators can enhance the public's observance of the COVID-19 prevention instructions and consequently control the spread of the infection and improve public health during the current crisis caused by the pandemic. © 2022 by the Author(s).
ABSTRACT
Background & Objective: Every operating room has been associated with a variety of occupational hazards, but not many studies have been conducted to assess and address these hazards. We used a qualitative approach to explore operating room personnel's experiences of workplace hazards and how these hazards threaten their occupational safety and health (OSH). Methodology: This qualitative study was conducted in five teaching hospitals in the south-west of Iran from February 2019 to March 2021. The sample was 24 operating room personnel who were selected under convenient sampling technique. Data were collected using semi-structured, individual interviews, document review and non-participant observation. The collected data were analyzed according to the qualitative content analysis method using MAXQDA v. 2020. Results: After prolonged analysis of the data, the researchers extracted 644 codes, 13 subcategories, 4 categories, and 1 main theme. The main theme of the study was working in a context of occupational hazards. Conclusions: Operating rooms are full of potential dangers, which, when combined with the personnel's negligence and management inefficiencies, increase the risk of occupational health and safety. Therefore, making working conditions safe by providing adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), in-service training, and identifying and managing the causes of personnel negligence are recommended. Moreover, strategies should be introduced to manage stress and conflicts among the healthcare personnel, thus controlling psychological hazards.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: During the current COVID-19 pandemic, nurses, as guardians of public health, have been fighting in the frontline of caring for the infected patients. Nurses' personal and psychological capacities, including resilience and professional commitment, which enable them to cope with difficult conditions and continue providing quality care, should be investigated thoroughly. The present study aimed to compare nurses in practice in COVID-19 units with nurses who are in practice in other hospital units in terms of resilience and professional commitment. Material and methods: This was a descriptive-comparative study. In total, 6914 nurses (3609 nurses from COVID-19 units and 3305 nurses from general units) participated in the study. The study context was 13 hospitals, which were selected from nine cities in Fars and Khuzestan, as the southern provinces of Iran. Results: The findings of the study showed that the professional commitment mean scores of nurses in COVID-19 units and nurses in general units were relatively high, as 45 and 55.5, respectively. Moreover, the resilience mean scores of nurses in COVID-19 units and those in general units were high, 82.5 and 93.5, respectively. Pearson's correlation coefficient showed a significant direct relationship between professional commitment and resilience in the nurses in COVID-19 units (r = 0.74, p < 0.001) and nurses in general units (r = 0.57, p < 0.001). Conclusions: In view of the existence of a significant positive relationship between resilience and professional commitment, some measures were designed to increase nurses' resilience that can improve their professional commitment as well.