Risks of Occupational-Related Adverse Events (ORAEs) and Effect of Bundled Interventions Among Health Care Workers in Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Wards.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study were to investigate the burden for health care workers (HCWs) who suffer from occupational-related adverse events (ORAEs) while working in contaminated areas in a specialized hospital for novel coronavirus pneumonia, to explore related risk factors, to evaluate the effectiveness of bundled interventions, as well as to provide scientific evidence regarding the reduction of risks concerning ORAEs and occupational exposure events. METHODS: The study was completed using a special team of 138 HCWs assembled for a specialized hospital for novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, dated from February 16 to March 26, 2020. The incidence of occupational exposure was determined by data reported from the hospital, while the prevalence of ORAEs was derived from questionnaire results. The relation coefficients of ORAEs and the variable potential risk factors are analyzed by logistic regression. After the risk factors were identified, targeted organized intervention was implemented and chi-square tests were performed to compare the incidence of occupational exposure and the prevalence of ORAEs in contaminated areas before and after the interventions. RESULTS: Ninety one out of 138 (65.94%) had reported ORAEs with 300 (27.96%) cases of ORAEs being recorded in a total of 1073 entries into contaminated areas. The prevalence of different ORAEs include 205 tenderness (24.73%), 182 headache/dizziness (21.95%), 138 dyspnea (16.65%), 130 blurred vision (15.68%), and 95 nausea/vomiting (11.46%). Personal protective equipment (PPE) is significantly associated with ORAEs in contaminated areas (P < 0.05). Among non-PPE-related factors, insomnia is associated with the majority of ORAEs in contaminated areas. Significant differences were achieved after organized interventions in the incidence of occupational exposure of HCWs (χ2 = 39.07, P < 0.001) and the prevalence of ORAEs in contaminated areas (χ2 = 22.95, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: During the epidemic period of novel severe respiratory infectious disease, the burden of the ORAEs in contaminated areas and the risk of occupational exposure of HCWs were relatively high. In time, comprehensive and multi-level bundled interventions may help decrease the risk of both ORAEs and occupational exposure.

Environmental contamination with SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 hospitals in Wuhan, China, 2020.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused high number of infections and deaths of healthcare workers globally. Distribution and possible transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital environment should be clarified. We herein collected 431 environmental (391 surface and 40 air) samples in the intensive care unit (ICU) and general wards (GWs) of three hospitals in Wuhan, China from February 21 to March 4, 2020, and detected SARS-CoV-2 RNA by real-time quantitative PCR. The viral positive rate in the contaminated areas was 17.8% (28/157), whereas there was no virus detected in the clean areas. Higher positive rate (22/59, 37.3%) was found in ICU than that in GWs (3/63, 4.8%). The surfaces of computer keyboards and mouse in the ICU were the most contaminated (8/10, 80.0%), followed by the ground (6/9, 66.7%) and outer glove (2/5, 40.0%). From 17 air samples in the contaminated areas, only one sample collected at a distance of around 30 cm from the patient was positive. Enhanced surface disinfection and hand hygiene effectively decontaminated the virus from the environment. This finding might help understand the transmission route and contamination risk of SARS-CoV-2 and evaluate the effectiveness of infection prevention and control measures in healthcare facilities.

Disease burden from COVID-19 symptoms among inpatients at the temporary military hospitals in Wuhan: a retrospective multicentre cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to establish a set of disability weights (DWs) for COVID-19 symptoms, evaluate the disease burden of inpatients and analyse the characteristics and influencing factors of the disease. DESIGN: This was a multicentre retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. SETTING: The medical records generated in three temporary military hospitals in Wuhan. PARTICIPANTS: Medical records of 2702 inpatients generated from 5 February to 5 April 2020 were randomly selected for this study. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: DWs of COVID-19 symptoms were determined by the person trade-off approach. The inpatients' medical records were analysed and used to calculate the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The mean DALY was evaluated across sex and age groups. The relationship between DALY and age, sex, body mass index, length of hospital stay, symptom duration before admission and native place was determined by multiple linear regression. RESULTS: For the DALY of each inpatient, severe expiratory dyspnoea, mild cough and sore throat had the highest (0.399) and lowest (0.004) weights, respectively. The average synthetic DALY and daily DALY were 2.29±1.33 and 0.18±0.15 days, respectively. Fever and fatigue contributed the most DALY at 31.36%, whereas nausea and vomiting and anxiety and depression contributed the least at 7.05%. There were significant differences between sex and age groups in both synthetic and daily DALY. Age, body mass index, length of hospital stay and symptom duration before admission were strongly related to both synthetic and daily DALY. CONCLUSIONS: Although the disease burden was higher among women than men, their daily disease burdens were similar. The disease burden in the younger population was higher than that in the older population. Treatment at the hospitals relieved the disease burden efficiently, while a delay in hospitalisation worsened it.