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. 2022 Aug;11(8):4483-4487.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_50_22. Epub 2022 Aug 30.

Assessment of exposure risk among healthcare workers exposed to confirmed cases of COVID-19 working in non-COVID zones of a teaching hospital in Northeast India: A cross-sectional study

Rituparna Das  1 , Bitan Sengupta  1 , Bidhan Goswami  2 , Chanda Mog  1
Affiliations

Assessment of exposure risk among healthcare workers exposed to confirmed cases of COVID-19 working in non-COVID zones of a teaching hospital in Northeast India: A cross-sectional study

Rituparna Das et al. J Family Med Prim Care. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of acquiring the COVID-19 disease, if there is a breach in the personal protection while managing patients.

Objectives: 1. To estimate the pattern of risk exposure among healthcare workers exposed to confirmed cases of COVID-19 working in non-COVID zones of a Teaching Hospital, North-East India. 2. To determine the association between pattern of exposure with their COVID-19 status.

Materials and method: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted among all HCWs who had occupational exposure to laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases between July and September 2020 in-non COVID zones of a major tertiary care hospital in Tripura.

Results: The present study showed that 215 HCWs were exposed to confirmed cases of COVID-19 while working in non-COVID zones of the hospital. Among the exposed, 39.5% of HCWs had high-risk exposure and 8.8% of HCWs were detected as COVID-19 positive. A majority of the study subjects experienced exposure in the hospital wards (66.0%), in surgical departments (19.5%), had close contact (less than one meter distance) with positive COVID-19 cases (73.5%), and had an exposure of more than 15 minutes (51.2%). The COVID status of the exposed HCWs was significantly associated with no source control (P = 0.016), close contact with COVID-19 positive cases (P = 0.026), more duration of exposure (P < 0.05), use of any PPE (P = 0.000). COVID status was also significantly associated with the high-risk exposure of the participants (P = 0.000).

Conclusion: Strict enforcement of the infection control measures like universal precautions should be practiced by HCWs to prevent hospital-acquired infections.

Keywords: COVID-19; non-COVID zones; risk assessment.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Risk category and COVID-19 status among the subjects (n = 215)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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