Hospital Practices and Research

Safety of Healthcare Workers at the Commencement of COVID-19: A Systematic Review

Document Type : Systematic Review

Authors

Mohammad Hossein Esmaeilzadeh 1
Fahimeh Barghi Shirazi 2
Morteza Rostamian 3

1 Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran

2 Department of Disaster & Emergency Health, School of Health Management & Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 English Department, Faculty of Medicine, Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran

https://doi.org/10.30491/hpr.2024.459470.1428
Abstract
Background: Infection prevention, control, and health workers’ safety in the face of biological agents are among the vital issues in healthcare systems worldwide. Considering the high prevalence of COVID-19 infection and its high mortality rate, this epidemic can be tackled to some extent through infection control in the general population and promoting the safety of health centers.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to scrutinize the literature regarding measures adopted for infection control and safety of healthcare workers in health centers during the beginning of COVID-19.
Methods: A systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines was performed. Keywords related to the study namely, “prevention and control”, “safety”, “coronavirus”, “COVID-19”, and “health personnel” in PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Scopus databases, and Google Scholar using AND/OR functions from February 2020 to July 2020 were searched. To select the documents, the titles of the retrieved studies were first evaluated for relevance; then, the abstracts and full texts of the papers with relevant titles were inspected.
Results: Out of 136 retrieved studies, 10 were relevant and their data were analyzed. Four articles highlighted the importance of prevention, three enunciated the importance of control, and three related to care providers’ safety. The results showed that the COVID-19 epidemic has affected the healthcare providers’ health; however, it is possible to prevent a catastrophe through strategic planning, prevention, and control measures.
Conclusion: Considering the importance of healthcare workers’ health, it is necessary to implement COVID-19 prevention and control management principles based on scientific evidence.

Keywords

Delivery of Healthcare
Safety
Coronavirus
COVID-19
Health Personnel
Health Services
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Hospital Practices and Research
Volume 9, Issue 2 - Serial Number 34
Spring 2024
Pages 448-455

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