AS, S., GMS, E., AM, A., F, A. (2021). Rights, Responsibilities, and Practices of Health Care Workers Regarding Occupational Health and Safety during COVID-19 Pandemic. Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine, 45(3), 167-182. doi: 10.21608/ejom.2021.193270
Seif-Eldin AS; Elhessewi GMS; Alhashem AM; Almoayad F. "Rights, Responsibilities, and Practices of Health Care Workers Regarding Occupational Health and Safety during COVID-19 Pandemic". Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine, 45, 3, 2021, 167-182. doi: 10.21608/ejom.2021.193270
AS, S., GMS, E., AM, A., F, A. (2021). 'Rights, Responsibilities, and Practices of Health Care Workers Regarding Occupational Health and Safety during COVID-19 Pandemic', Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine, 45(3), pp. 167-182. doi: 10.21608/ejom.2021.193270
AS, S., GMS, E., AM, A., F, A. Rights, Responsibilities, and Practices of Health Care Workers Regarding Occupational Health and Safety during COVID-19 Pandemic. Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine, 2021; 45(3): 167-182. doi: 10.21608/ejom.2021.193270
Rights, Responsibilities, and Practices of Health Care Workers Regarding Occupational Health and Safety during COVID-19 Pandemic
1Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.
2Department of Health Sciences, College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3Department of Nursing Administration, Damanhour University, Damanhour, Egypt.
Abstract
Introduction: COVID-19 is a rapidly expanding pandemic caused by a novel human Corona virus. Health care workers (HCWs) are front-line, and they have to know how to protect themselves and their patients from this infection. Aim of Work: To determine the awareness of rights, responsibilities and protective practices regarding occupational health and safety during COVID-19 pandemic among HCWs. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz University Hospital during May and June 2020 among 132 HCWs using a non-probability convenient sampling method. A questionnaire was developed to investigate the HCWs’ awareness of rights and responsibilities along with their commitments to their role in protective practices regarding OHS during the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire was developed based on WHO (2020a) guidelines .Descriptive statistics were applied; to determine significance levels, non-parametric Mann Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis procedures were used. All statistical analyses were performed using a significance level of 0.05. Results: The majority of the sample was females (75.8%), non-Saudi (75%), and nurses (65.2%) who had graduated with at least a bachelor’s degree (84.8%); approximately half of them were between 30 and 39 years old (50.8%). The majority of participants were aware of their right (mean 4.88 ± 0.25), responsibilities (mean 4.87± 0.30), and practice measures (mean 4.72 ± 0.34). Female HCWs had significantly higher scores than males on the rights measures (z = -2.15, p = .031), and nurses had significantly higher scores than all other HCWs for rights (mean 4.91 ± 0.22), responsibilities (mean 4.92 ± 0.21), and practices measures (mean 4.82 ± 0.23). HCWs aged 30–39 years had significantly higher scores (p = .028) regarding practice (mean 4.78± 0.32). Conclusion: The findings of the current study revealed a high level of awareness of occupational health and safety by the majority of participants; hospitals should ensure the continuous accessibility of guidelines and the provision of training to workers with continuous mentorship.