Title : Characteristics of healthcare workers infected with COVID-19: A retrospective descriptive study in a university hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Abstract:
Introduction:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become the most devastating public health issue in the entire world. The disease has been spreading internationally and has swept the world in a short period. It stated as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Healthcare workers (HCW’s) are considered a high-risk group for getting infected by COVID19. There were not sufficient studies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on this title. Furthermore, studies did not focus on the healthcare workers. Our aim in this study is to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 infection and the high-risk group among HCW’s at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Methods:
This is a single-centre retrospective record review of HCW’s from 2020-2021. 746 of healthcare workers who infected with COVID-19 and tested positive at King Abdulaziz University Hospital were included in our study. All other healthcare workers who work at King Abdulaziz University Hospital who tested positive outside the hospital laboratory were excluded. Characteristics of the healthcare workers, presenting symptoms, and the source of infection were compared with different job titles.
Results:
There were 503 out of 746 who are females while 243 out of 746 were males. Most of them were between 26-35 years old. 53.6% among healthcare workers were nurses while 17.2% only were physicians. Around 16% have a history of Diabetes and Hypertension. 99.5% had a complete recovery while 0.5% died. 86.7% of them were treated in an outpatient setting whereas 15% had a hospital stay that ranged from 1-5 days, 6-10 days, and > 10 days. The most common presenting symptom was fever, cough, and sore throat.
Conclusion:
COVID-19 had huge impact in our healthcare system due to large numbers of infected healthcare workers at our hospital. Nurses are the most vulnerable group due to close contact with COVID-19 patients. Most of the healthcare workers had a complete recovery.
Audience take away:
- Healthcare workers are thought to be high-risk population for acquiring COVID-19 infection.
- The COVID-19 emergence has had a profound effect on healthcare system.
- We sought to investigate the COVID-19 infections among healthcare workers and their effects on the healthcare system.
- Learn from our experience on how we dealt with the outbreaks of COVID-19.
