1

What is the impact of Covid-19 on safety of health care worker

Student’s Name

University

Course

Professor

Date
 2

Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course Number

Date

What is the impact of Covid-19 on safety of health care worker?

In December 2019 unknown coronavirus strain disease, (COVID-19) OR a severe acute

respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-Cov-2) was discovered in Wuhan province in china.

The virus has rapidity spread to the world affectioning millions of people and family. According

to the gathered data from st john Hopkin university over 3 million people have been reported to

have died due to the covid-19. Millions of people have been left jobless due to closure of school

hotel industry and other organization. Covid-19 has had a negative effect to the social life of very

many people affect economy of many nation and also have a negative effect on the on safety of

health worker. This study guided on a research question what are the effect of covid-19 on the

safety of health care workers. Study is aimed at discussing the effect of covid 19 on the safety on

health care worker and providing recommendation on the strategy that need to be put in place to

ensure safety of the health care worker.

Covid 19 pandemic has contributed to a significant burden worldwide. Detrimental effect

of covid19 include financial hardship face by different people, high rate of infection among the

population, increase of the number of people that are dyeing due to covid 19, fear of the

uncertainty, and stress among the general population. The health care worker is the frontline

solider in the fight to slow, and manage the spread of covid 19. Currently there are not specific

cure for the disease even though there are vaccine that will play an important role toward the

management and slowing the spread of the disease to the general population.
 3

The management, control, and formulating of short- and long-term strategy depend

mostly on the effort of health care worker. Therefore, it is important that the heath care worker

continues to usefully treat non covid patients at the same time attend to the patients that are

suffering from the covid. It is also important that they maintain personal responsibility such as

taking care of their family at the same time of themselves. The overall wellness of the health care

worker and the psychological burden has received a heightened awareness with different studies

showing high rate of psychological stress, burnout, and suicide. The health care worker

experience emotional exhaustion that can contribute to occurrence of medical error, lower

productivity, lack of empathy during treatment of patients and higher turnover rate. The ability of

the health care worker to adequately cope with stressor is crisis for their family, patients and at

the same time themselves.

There are several impacts of covid 19 on the safety of health care worker. One of the

impacts is the consequence of prioterizing direct health care worker. Covid-19 as played a key

role toward the shortage of PPE. The demand of PPE has risen due to that fact that there are

more people that are in need of using the PPE such as the hospital cleaner’s porters are required

to have the PPE before the covid 19 such staff could conduct their role without using the PPE.

Therefore, the demand as created a shortage in PPE making the health care worker to be exposed

to the risk of being infected with the delay disease. Since most contractual worker in the hospital

facility is on part time contact most of these workers do not have health care insurance cover and

they cannot afford to take time off when they are feeling sick so when they are infected the

congregate with the uninfected health care worker exposing them to the risk of acquiring the

Covid 19. Due to this cycle many health care workers have been exposed to the covid 19 leading

shortage of health care worker and even to death. The shortage and death of health care worker
 4

has had a negative effect toward the fight and control of Covid-19. The rate of infection among

the health care worker was alarming that it forced the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) to published guidance that will assist the health care provider to mitigate the

staff shortage. This mitigation plan has played an important role in addressing the issue that

were exposing the health care worker to different risk such as provision of PPE. The employment

of additional staff, setting g isolation facility for the patients that are suffering from covid 19.

for example, in New York the Northwell health has employed an extra person making the

patient transporters to work in pair one person help the patients and handle the wheel chair while

the other while the other individual assign to touching and opening door, and elevator. The

health care facility has also set aside elevator to be used by the covid patient, isolation room at

the case time awing for the covid patients. While in Colorado the EVS team has been provided

with the state of art UV-C light that plays a key role to assist in the disinfection of health care

worker in order to prevent infection.

Another impact of covid 19 on safety of health care worker is the psychological impact a

study that was performed in Singapore reported that health care worker attending to covid 19

patient had ahigh level of stress, depression and anxiety. The increased demand of the health

care worker has had a negative effect on how they relate friends and family, therefor causing

psychological stress. the health care worker reported that their more anxious about self-isolation,

quarantine, fear of infecting their family, death of their patient, the increase work load have

uncertainty about the future and becoming ill. While in china the health care workers such as

doctors, nurse and other health care practitioner reported to have symptoms such as anxiety,

difficulty in sleeping and depression (Que, et al., 2020).  According to Que, et al., (2020), about

46. % of the health care were experienced or had symptom of anxiety, 44% of the health care
 5

worker experience depression, while 29% experienced challenge with change their sleeping

patterns (insomnia). Lai, et al., (2020), state that in china over 70% of the health care worker reported
experience psychological stress. The covid 19 pandemic has increase the risk of health care worker

developing trauma and other psychological stress related disorder to the fear that the health care work

has of what will happen if they fall or get infected with covid 19 disease and also having the fear of the

unknow future. The post-traumatic stress disorder was repeated to be common to be common among the

nurses as compared to other health care profession. The uses demonstrated ahigh like hood of

developing anxiety among the medical field personnel.

Another impact of covid 19 on safety of the health care worker is the violence against healthcare

workers. Since the discovery of covid 19, health care has faced different challenges one of the challenges

is they have face is violence such as assaults. This event has forced the government to look into the

issue of safety of the health care work. One of such incidents happen in where a doctor was attacked by

the family after the loved one died while undergoing treatments for covid 19 (Devi, 2020). Another incident

happens in Bangladesh where the doctor who was infected by covid 19 was forced to live their home

when the member of the public attacked them and forced them to leave so as not to spread the disease to

the member of the community.

Conclusion

There is a need of introduction of telemedical services for patient that are suffering from covid 19 so that

they could stay hope and decongest the hospital so as to create space for serial ill patient and those that

are suffering from other disease. It is also important that screening of ever individual at the entrance of

health care facility so as individual that are infected with high temperature can be probably screen and

isolated to prevent the spread of disease to the health care worker and also other individuals such as

patient. also, it is important that contract tracing be done to the patient.

 6

Works Cited
 7

References

Lofgren, E., Lum, K., Horowitz, A., Madubuowu, B., & Fefferman, N. (2020). The

Epidemiological Implications of Incarceration Dynamics in Jails for Community,

Corrections Officer, and Incarcerated Population Risks from COVID-19. medRxiv.

Mantoya-Bathelemy, A., Lee, C., Cundiff, D., & Smith, E. (2020). COVID-19 and the

correctional environment: the American prison as a focal point for public health.

American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Rubin, R. (2020). The challenge of preventing COVID-19 spread in correctional facilities. Jama,

323(18), 1760-1761.

Williams, B., Ahalt, C., Cloud, D., Augustine, D., Rorvig, L., & Sears, D. (2020). Correctional

facilities in the shadow of COVID-19: unique challenges and proposed solutions. Health

Aff, 10.

Que, Jianyu; Shi, Le; Deng, Jiahui; Liu, Jiajia; Zhang, Li; Wu, Suying; Gong, Yimiao; Huang, Weizhen;
Yuan, Kai; Yan, Wei; Sun, Yankun (2020-06-14). "Psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study in China". General Psychiatry. 33 (3):
e100259. doi:10.1136/gpsych-2020-100259. ISSN 2517-729X. PMC 7299004. PMID 32596640.

Lai, Jianbo; Ma, Simeng; Wang, Ying; Cai, Zhongxiang; Hu, Jianbo; Wei, Ning; Wu, Jiang; Du, Hui; Chen,
Tingting; Li, Ruiting; Tan, Huawei (2020-03-02). "Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes
Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019". JAMA Network Open. 3 (3):
e203976. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976. ISSN 2574-3805. PMC 7090843. PMID 32202646.

Devi, Sharmila (2020-09-05). "COVID-19 exacerbates violence against health workers". The

Lancet. 396 (10252): 658. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31858-4. ISSN 0140-
6736. PMC 7470723. PMID 32891198.
8