Fatores do risco de exposição ao SARS-CoV-2 e a adesão às medidas protetoras entre profissionais da área da saúde

Abstract

Introduction: Risk factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 contamination of healthcare professionals include close contact with patients, inadequate personal protective equipment or unprotected exposure. The high risk of infection is characterized when the health professional does not use personal protective equipment whenever recommended. Objective: To analyze the risk factors of occupational exposure and adherence to protective measures among PAS in the context of COVID-19 in a reference hospital in the care of patients contaminated and suspected by SARS-CoV-2 in the state of Goiás. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study, developed with 90 health professionals who worked in the direct care of patients with COVID-19 from July to October 2021, in a reference unit in the care of patients with suspicion and confirmed by the SARS-CoV-2, from the Midwest region of Brazil. A public domain questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization named "Risk assessment and exposure management of health professionals in the context of COVID-19" and a sociodemographic questionnaire adapted to the local reality were applied. The data analysis comprised the characterization of the demographic, professional, health, habit/lifestyle, risk and exposure to COVID-19 and stress of the sample was performed using absolute frequency (n), relative frequency (%) for the categorical variables; mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum for continuous variables. Data normality was tested using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The association between occupational variables and adherence to protective measures on the risk of exposure to COVID-19 was performed using the Pearson/Posthoc chi-square test. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science, version 26.0, and in all analyzes the adopted significance level was 5% (p < 0.05). Results: The data on the demographic profile of the study participants were, on average, 33 years old, mostly female, the professional profile showed most health professionals, being nursing technicians, followed by nurses and doctors. Most professionals reported having more than one employment relationship and they indicated physical and psychological overload during work. Adherence to personal protective equipment recommended by the World Health Organization, although most professionals responded that they used protective measures "always, as recommended", it is noteworthy that there was no 100% adherence. The use of face shield was the least used contamination barrier, marked as "sometimes" in common procedures and "most of the time" and procedures that generate aerosols. Conclusion: The protection measures have the benefit of preventing professional illness, as well as absence, preventing infections and accidents in the services, taking care, and valuing the health of the worker. Therefore, the participants in this study, the PAS, had high adherence to protective measures, but not always as recommended, with no satisfactory adherence to avoid contamination against COVID-19