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Protective Measures Practices Among Hospitals’ Professionals Working in a Fragile Health System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2022

Tamim Alsuliman ,
Lugien Alasadi Open the ORCID record for Lugien Alasadi [Opens in a new window] ,
Ali Alrstom ,
Gheith Alabdallah ,
Joseph Sneij ,
Ruba Al Khalaf  and
Marwan Alhalabi
Tamim Alsuliman
Affiliation:
Hematology and Cell Therapy Department, Saint-Antoine Hospital, AP-HP, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
Lugien Alasadi*
Affiliation:
Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
Ali Alrstom
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
Gheith Alabdallah
Affiliation:
Orthopädie an den Planken Praxisgemeinschaft, Mannheim, Germany
Joseph Sneij
Affiliation:
Associates in Family Practice, Sterling Heights, Michigan, USA
Ruba Al Khalaf
Affiliation:
Department of Biosciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Marwan Alhalabi
Affiliation:
Division of Embryology and Reproductive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
*
Corresponding author: Lugien Alasadi, Email: lugienalasadi@gmail.com
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Abstract

Objective:

This study aimed to assess the protective measures among health-care workers (HCWs) in a war-torn area during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods:

An online cross-sectional questionnaire was administrated to HCWs in Syria between April 1 and May 21, 2020. The questions aimed to assess the HCWs’ application of safety, hygiene, and necessary protection considerations while attending to suspected or proven COVID-19 cases. Unpaired t-test and 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analysis.

Results:

Of the 290 participants included in the statistical analysis, 250 were medical doctors. Low scores of protective practices were noticed among the participants, as only 12% of doctors had a score above 6/15 points, and only 37.5% of nurses had a score of more than 4/12 points. Medical doctors who were not on the frontlines scored significantly higher than those who were on the frontlines (4.69 vs 3.80 points, respectively; P < 0.001).

Conclusions:

More courses and training sessions should be implemented to improve the practice of protective measures among HCWs (frontliners in particular) in areas with fragile health systems, such as Syria, during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those on the frontlines. Moreover, specific COVID-19 protection measures guidelines to low-income countries are needed.

Keywords

protective measuresCOVID-19health systemspandemichealth workers
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 17 , 2023 , e84
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.

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