Health Care Organization Policies for Employee Safety and COVID-19 Pandemic Response: A Mixed-Methods Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bhardwaj M ; Coupal H ; Gore R ; Punnett, Laura ; Rice S ; Siddique S
• Description:
  Objective: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted the well-being of health care workers. We examined the association between prepandemic perceptions of perceived organizational support for safety (using NOSACQ-50), safety hazards and the pandemic's impact on individual workers and institutions. Methods: Questionnaires from health care staff of five public health care facilities were collected in 2018 (n = 1059) and 2021 (n = 1553). In 2021, 17 workers were interviewed from the same facilities. Results: Interviewees reported that their organizations struggled to communicate due to changing guidelines, inadequate personal protective equipment, training, and infection control, early in the pandemic. Questionnaire reports of decreased staffing and increased workload during the pandemic were associated with lower baseline NOSACQ scores. Conclusion: Survey findings predicted some variation in organizational response to the pandemic. Better organizational policies for employee safety and pandemic planning could improve health care institutions' preparedness. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Health Personnel Health Promotion Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Healthcare Worker Safety During COVID-19 Coronavirus COVID-19 Health Care Workers Health Communications Occupational Health Policy Prevention Safety Policy Worker Safety Work Organization Workplace Safety

  More +
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• Volume:
  65
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066308
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2023 Jan; 65(1):1-9
• Contact Point Address:
  Sundus Siddique, MBBS, MPH, Doctoral candidate, Department of Public Health, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences, 61 Wilder Street, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
• Email:
  Sundus_Siddique@student.uml.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  University of Massachusetts, Lowell
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20060701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20210831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b3a4032f63d7bb4acb63d999c3f3c3f014d713b8d765cf3e401876196912752880f07ff66df026577798f2768989364d5acf0a3e2be46eb55e22e8517aaf1e7a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212780/cdc_212780_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 187.26 KB ]