Only 27.2% participants in the study had special allowances. 40.9% health workers had allowances on duty. The surgeons had average operation from 11.43 ± 11.26 to 12.68 ± 12.02 case/month and the money gained from duty from 71,480 to 156,900 VND/month. The health workers had poisonous allowances was 50%, responsible allowance was 29.1%, allowance against epidemic was 5.7%, roving allowance was 7.1%. Setting up the minimum salary for health workers must be based on real price (44.2%), the salary level was applied at present level (71.9%) and the period for increasing the salary should be 2 years (66.9%).
Health personnel

Objective. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice on the Basic Life Support (BLS) among the Philippine General Hospital medical interns, compare the scores between trained and untrained interns, and determine the proportion of respondents with updated BLS training. Methods. This was a cross-sectional study using a thirty-five item questionnaire on the knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical interns at the Philippine General Hospital on the BLS. Results. A total of 262 interns were included in the study. Although the mean knowledge scores of untrained and trained medical interns did not differ significantly (7.00 vs. 7.30, p=0.1637), more than 20% committed mistakes on questions on the following: jaw-thrust, rescue breaths, defibrillation, and CPR check. Generally, interns followed the BLS guidelines in their practice and had a positive attitude towards BLS. However, only 37% of trained participants had training within the past two years. Conclusion. Most medical interns have a fair knowledge on BLS regardless of training status and adhere to them in practice. Since the training duration did not affect their knowledge scores, initial training in medical school and continuous exposure in the wards may have provided adequate BLS reinforcement. Recertification may not be needed during their formative years in medical school.
Health Personnel

Background: The need for better Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) protection for healthcare workers is increasingly being recognized as a major priority in the Philippines. The OSH Law ensures a safe and healthy workplace for all workers while the OSH Standards in the Public sector guarantees protection to all government employees from work-related injury and accident. Objective: This study determined the knowledge, skills, and practices on OSH among healthcare workers after the passage of the OSH Standards for the Public Sector of four local government units: Caloocan City, Malabon City, Navotas City, and Valenzuela City Methods: The descriptive evaluative and descriptive comparative research designs were utilized using a self-made questionnaire. Inclusion criteria were: current employment as healthcare workers from the Health Department, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and Bureau of Fire Protection of the four LGUs. Data gathered were statistically analyzed using frequency and percentage, simple mean, weighted mean and standard deviation. Results: More than half of the 306 respondents do not have a safety and health role in their respective LGUs. In terms of the level of knowledge on OSH, findings showed that majority were unaware of the OSH Law and the OSH Standards in the Public sector and to some of the duties of employers and rights of workers. The respondents were generally moderately skillful on OSH activities and the extent of OSH Practice showed unfamiliarity with the Mandatory 8-hour OSH Training, Safety officers, Health and Safety committees, and risk assessment for hazards. Conclusion A positive safety and health culture for government workers is fundamental especially for those working in the healthcare sector. This can be achieved more effectively if there is awareness, commitment, and correct implementation of the OSH Law, OSH Standards in the Public Sector and mandatory health programs and policies in the government institutions.
Health Personnel

Introduction: Leprosy is a chronic, progressive, and complex disease. One of the factors contributing to the quality of case detection and treatment compliance is the attitudes of health care providers towards leprosy patients. Assessment of the attitudes of HCP towards leprosy patients is crucial because this is where leprosy patients base their care-seeking behaviors; hence, the creation of this scale. Objectives: To create and validate a functionally equivalent Filipino translation of the HCP AT-PLWL scale. Methods: A validity study was conducted into two phases. In Phase I, the AT-PLWL scale was translated (forward-back method) into Filipino, which underwent a cognitive debriefing (face validity) and pre-testing to 30 health care providers. In Phase 2, the reconciled forward translation underwent face and content validity and was pilot-tested to 100 health care providers. Reliability, both internal consistency and test-retest, were assessed via calculating Cronbach’s α and intra-class correlation coefficient, respectively. Results: Content and face validity showed that all items in the scale were relevant. Cronbach’s α showed an adequate internal consistency of greater than 0.7 while the intra-class correlation coefficient of responses was greater than 0.80, indicating good correlation. Conclusion Overall, the final translated Filipino version of AT-PLWL scale is valid and reliable; hence, could serve as a tool to evaluate HCP’s attitudes.
Health Personnel

No abstract available.
Health Personnel* ; Humans ; Korea

Background: Unsafe injection practice can transmit various blood borne infections. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and practice of injection safety among injection providers, to obtain information about disposal of injectable devices, and to compare the knowledge and practices of urban and rural injection providers. Methods: The study was conducted with injection providers working at primary health care facilities within Kaski district, Nepal. Ninety-six health care workers from 69 primary health care facilities were studied and 132 injection events observed. A semi-structured checklist was used for observing injection practice and a questionnaire for the survey. Respondents were interviewed to complete the questionnaire and obtain possible explanations for certain observed behaviors. Results: All injection providers knew of at least one pathogen transmitted through use/re-use of unsterile syringes. Proportion of injection providers naming hepatitis/jaundice as one of the diseases transmitted by unsafe injection practice was significantly higher in urban (75.6%) than in rural (39.2%) area. However, compared to urban respondents (13.3%), a significantly higher proportion of rural respondents (37.3%) named Hepatitis B specifically as one of the diseases transmitted. Median (inter-quartile range) number of therapeutic injection and injectable vaccine administered per day by the injection providers were 2 (1) and 1 (1), respectively. Two handed recapping by injection providers was significantly higher in urban area (33.3%) than in rural areas (21.6%). Most providers were not aware of the post exposure prophylaxis guideline. Conclusion: The knowledge of the injection providers about safe injection practice was acceptable. The use of safe injection practice by providers in urban and rural health care facilities was almost similar. The deficiencies noted in the practice must be addressed.
Health Personnel ; Injections

There is a growing interest in research on satisfaction with healthcare provider (HCP) and HCP- patient communication as a measure of healthcare quality of HCP’s communication competency. However, many communication assessments were not comprehensive measures and are not entirely accurate in measuring what is supposed to be measured. This study aimed at assessing the validity and reliability of a newly developed HCP-PC instrument in a Malaysian primary care setting. The HCP-PC instrument was developed using items adapted from existing instruments as well as self-developed items. A pilot study involving 277 clients of an outpatient clinic was conducted in HKL using the proposed instrument which was distributed immediately after face to face consultation. The content validity and Cronbach alpha reliability were assessed. Factor analysis constructed 3 components, exchanging information (EI), socioemotional behaviour (SB) and communication style (CS). All items loaded on the corresponding component with factor loading ≥0.6, suggesting that all items in the respective component are measuring the same direction. PCA of the final 30 items explain 61.98% of the total variance with 6.66%, 47.18% and 8.13% explained by EI, SB and CS respectively. Component-based reliability show strong internal consistency with Cronbach alpha, αEI= 0.92, αSB= 0.96 and αCS= 0.70. The pilot study supported the instrument validity and reliability after initial tests. However, further study needs to be done to confirm its construct validity to help establish a valid and reliable HCP-PC instrument for measuring patient satisfaction with HCP-PC that can be used in primary care setting.
Reproducibility of Results ; Health Personnel

Background: Studies show that healthcare workers from previous pandemics have experienced high levels of stress, anxiety with negative psychological impacts. This paper aims to identify factors affecting mental health outcomes of healthcare workers during Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to determine factors affecting mental health outcome of healthcare workers with direct contact to patients with COVID-19. Depression, anxiety and distress were measured by the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire, seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, and 22-item Impact of Event Scale–Revised, respectively. Binomial multiple logistic regression model was used to identify the factors associated with mental health outcome. Results: 172 healthcare workers were included. Prevalence of depression, anxiety and distress symptoms among all healthcare workers were 57%, 47.7%, 65.1%, respectively. Age and living with a family with comorbidities are significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Healthcare workers aged 31 years and above are 70% less likely to have depression symptoms (OR 0.278, CI 95%, 0.11-0.72 p=0.008 and OR 0.273, CI 95%, 0.12-0.61, p=0.002). Those living with relatives with comorbidities are 2.7 times more likely to experience depression symptoms (OR 2.731, CI 95%, 1.36-5.5, p=0.005). Healthcare workers age 31-40 years has 80% less likely to experience anxiety symptoms (OR 0.212, CI 95%, 0.09-0.5, p<0.001), and those age 41 and above have 73% less likely to have anxiety symptoms (OR 0.37, CI 95%, 0.14-0.98, p<0.045). Those living with relatives with comorbidities are 2.9 times more likely to have anxiety symptoms (OR 2.889, CI 95%, 1.46-5.73, p=0.002). Level of knowledge on COVID-19 among health care workers significantly differs across severity but has no significant association with prevalence of depression. No factors were associated with distress symptom. Conclusion Cognizant of high rates of depression, anxiety and distress among our younger healthcare workers living with relatives with comorbidities will be a challenge to establish and/or improve existing programs to promote and address mental health needs. Psychological stress can accumulate over time and have an impact later in the outbreak which should be investigated in future studies.
Health Personnel ; COVID-19

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new infectious disease with no definitive treatment and subsequently became a global pandemic. It has a reported morbidity rate of 19% among health care workers. Patients infected with COVID-19 are at risk for developing respiratory failure requiring intubation. Careful infection control measures to prevent cross-infection to healthcare providers are necessary. While exact mechanisms of transmission are unknown, person to person horizontal transmission arise, and the risk of spread during aerosol-generating procedures is a major concern. This is a case of an anesthesiologist who developed cough, ageusia, and loose bowel movement after performing an intubation to a patient with difficult airway. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 and eventually made a full recovery. It highlights the clinical course of the illness from onset to recuperation and the need to understand optimal use of PPE in healthcare settings.
COVID-19 ; Health Personnel

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at most risk of contracting influenza and COVID-19 at their workplace. Despite the well established benefits and strong recommendations for influenza vaccination especially during this COVID-19 pandemic, uptake of this vaccine among HCWs appears to be low and decreasing. Objective: This study aimed to determine the factors that affect the uptake of Influenza vaccine among HCWs in the clinical setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire among physicians and allied staff from a chain of primary care clinics. The questionnaire consisted of multiple choice questions covering baseline demographic data, uptake of Influenza vaccine, factors affecting uptake, awareness and perceptions about vaccination. Sample size was 133, with intent to include all HCWs. Independent T-test and Pearson’s Chi-square test were performed to compare the baseline sociodemographic profiles and perception of influenza. Binary logistic regression was performed to analyze the factors associated with influenza uptake. Results: Among 143 participants, 66 were vaccinated. Occupation (p = 0.009) and having been vaccinated with influenza in the past (p<0.001) were significantly associated with influenza vaccine uptake. Physicians were five times more likely to get vaccinated compared to Pharmacists (p = 0.006). Perceptions regarding influenza show no significant association with the uptake of vaccination. Conclusion Physicians and nurses were more likely to get vaccinated against influenza during the Covid-19 pandemic. Perceived significant exposure to influenza, with direct patient contact or care and more knowledge regarding influenza may be contributory factors. Vaccination may be included not just in company or institutional policies, but also in national health programs. Awareness campaigns can be instituted. Empathy training may help to constantly remind HCWs that they can expose sick patients to influenza and other communicable diseases.
Influenza Vaccines ; Health Personnel