Impact of personal protective equipment use on health care workers' physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health care workers (HCWs) have been obliged to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). We assessed the impact of PPE use on HCWs' physical health and we examined factors related to a greater risk of adverse events due to PPE use. METHODS: We applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines and the Cochrane criteria. We searched PubMed, Medline, Scopus, ProQuest, CINAHL, and medRxiv from January 1, 2020 to December 27, 2020. RESULTS: Our review included 14 studies with 11,746 HCWs. The estimated overall prevalence of adverse events among HCWs was 78% with a range from 42.8% to 95.1% among studies. Among others, the following factors were related to the risk of adverse events among HCWs due to PPE use: obesity, diabetes mellitus, smoking, pre-existing headache, longer duration of shifts wearing PPE, increased consecutive days with PPE, and increased exposure to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of adverse events among HCWs due to PPE use is very high. Healthcare facilities should take the necessary precautions and change the working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent adverse events associated with PPE use and minimize harm to HCWs.

Risk factors for stress among police officers: A systematic literature review.

BACKGROUND: Stress is common among police personnel leading to several negative consequences. OBJECTIVE: We performed a systematic literature review to identify risk factors for stress among police officers. METHODS: We searched PubMed and Scopus electronic databases through to July 2018 and we conducted this review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used for studies quality assessment. RESULTS: After selection, 29 cross-sectional studies met the inclusion criteria and included in the review. The average quality of studies was low since no study was rated as having low risk of bias, three studies (10.3%) as moderate risk and 26 studies (89.7%) were rated as having high risk of bias. Stress risk factors were summarized in the following categories: demographic characteristics; job characteristics; lifestyle factors; negative coping strategies and negative personality traits. CONCLUSIONS: Identification of stress risk factors is the first step to create and adopt the appropriate interventions to decrease stress among police personnel. The early identification of police officers at higher risk and the appropriate screening for mental health disorders is crucial to prevent disease and promote quality of life.

Nurses' burnout and associated risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

AIMS: To examine the nurses' burnout and associated risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: We followed the Cochrane criteria and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines for this systematic review and meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, Cochrane COVID-19 registry, CINAHL and pre-print services (medRχiv and PsyArXiv) were searched from January 1 to November 15, 2020 and we removed duplicates. REVIEW METHODS: We applied a random effect model to estimate pooled effects since the heterogeneity between results was very high. RESULTS: Sixteen studies, including 18,935 nurses met the inclusion criteria. The overall prevalence of emotional exhaustion was 34.1%, of depersonalization was 12.6% and of lack of personal accomplishment was 15.2%. The main risk factors that increased nurses' burnout were the following: younger age, decreased social support, low family and colleagues readiness to cope with COVID-19 outbreak, increased perceived threat of Covid-19, longer working time in quarantine areas, working in a high-risk environment, working in hospitals with inadequate and insufficient material and human resources, increased workload and lower level of specialized training regarding COVID-19. CONCLUSION: Nurses experience high levels of burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, while several sociodemographic, social and occupational factors affect this burnout. IMPACT: We found that burnout among nurses is a crucial issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an urgent need to prepare nurses to cope better with COVID-19 pandemic. Identification of risk factors for burnout could be a significant weapon giving nurses and health care systems the ability to response in a better way against the following COVID-19 waves in the near future.