VSTE

ISSN (online): 1805-9112

Research ArticleOpen access

Transfers of healthcare workers due to the COVID-19 crisis and its impacts

Abstract

During the coronavirus crisis, healthcare workers are exposed to a large amount of work in high-risk workplaces in very unfavorable conditions. The aim of this seminar paper is to find out what psychological effects the coronavirus crisis has on these healthcare workers and also what are the reasons and procedures for moving workers to other positions. Whether it's transfers between departments within an organization, or transfers between organizations to other cities or regions. To achieve the aim of the research and answer the research questions, data from the existing questionnaires of Suryavanshi et al. (2020) and Lasalvia et al. (2020) are processed and analyzed and our own questionnaire survey is created, which describes the reasons and procedures for relocating workers in times of crisis. The received questionnaires are compared and analyzed. They show that the symptoms of moderate to severe depression and severe anxiety are most common in healthcare professionals who are in direct contact with infected COVID-19 patients and are also more common in women. The questionnaire itself describes that the most common reasons for relocating workers are necessary assistance with vaccinations or with testing, assistance in special wards for patients with COVID-19, but also due to the lack of staff due to COVID-19 infection. Hospitals use various procedures to deal with this crisis; these most often include transfers of workers to work from home, recruitment of new part-time workers and contractors, bans on taking holidays for healthcare staff and mandatory overtime, assistance from students, part-time workers and volunteers, as well as repurposing hospital beds and reorganization of operations.

Keywords:COVID-19pandemic impactemployeeshealthcare workersmental healthemployee transfers

References

  1. BELL, V. and D. WADE, (2021). Mental health of clinical staff working in high-risk epidemic and pandemic health emergencies a rapid review of the evidence and living meta-analysis. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 56(1), 1-11.
  2. BURDORF, A., F. PORRU and R. RUGULIES, (2020). The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic: Consequences for occupational health. Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health, 46(3), 229-230.
  3. CARNEVALE, J. B., and I. HATAK, (2020). Employee adjustment and well-being in the era of COVID-19: Implications for human resource management. Journal of Business Research, 116, 183-187.
  4. CHANANA, N. and SANGEETA, (2020). Employee engagement practices during COVID-19 lockdown. Journal of Public Affairs, 1-8.
  5. GOMBAR, S., M. CHANG, C. A. HOGAN, J. ZEHNDER, S. BOYD, B. A. PINSKY and N. H. SHAH, (2020). Persistent detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in patients and healthcare workers with COVID-19. Journal of Clinical Virology, 129.
  6. HALLMAN, D. M., L. B. JANUARIO, S. E. MATHIASSEN, M. HEIDEN, S. SVENSSON and G. BERGSTRÖM, 2021. Working from home during the COVID-19 outbreak in Sweden: Effects on 24-h time use in office workers. BMC Public Health, 21(1).
  7. JANKELOVÁ, N. and J. MIŠÚN, (2021). Key competencies of agricultural managers in the acute stage of the COVID-19 crisis. Agriculture, 11(1).
  8. JOHNSON, C. C., C. M. COLEMAN, A. R. SITARIK, J. E. LEON, R. J. TIBBETTS, B. C. COOK, B. K. MUMA, A. J.
  9. WEINMANN and L. P. SAMUEL, (2021). SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positivity and antibody prevalence among asymptomatic hospital based health care workers. Journal of Clinical Virology, 140.
  10. LASALVIA, A., C. BONETTO, S. PORRU, A. CARTA, S. TARDIVO, C. BOVO, M. RUGGERI and F. AMADDEO, 2020. Psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers in a highly burdened area of north-east Italy. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 30.
  11. MAKIN, A. J. and A. LAYTON, (2021). The global fiscal response to COVID-19: Risks and repercussions. Economic Analysis and Policy, 69, 340-349.
  12. MALTEZOU, H. C., X. DEDOUKOU, M. TSERONI, P. TSONOU, V. RAFTOPOULOS, K. PAPADIMA, E. MOURATIDOU, S. POUFTA, G. PANAGIOTAKOPOULOS, D. HATZIGEORGIOU and N. SIPSAS, (2020). SARS-CoV-2 infection in healthcare personnel with high-risk occupational exposure: Evaluation of 7- day exclusion from work policy. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 71(12), 3182-3187.
  13. MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, (2021). Vláda povolává na pomoc s epidemií covid- 19 ambulantní lékaře, uložila jim pracovní povinnost [The government is calling on outpatient doctors to help with the covid-19 epidemic, imposing work duties on them] [online]. Prague: Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic [2021-03-17]. https://www.mzcr.cz/tiskove-centrum- mz/vlada-povolava-na-pomoc-s-epidemii-covid-19-ambulantni-lekare-ulozila-jim-pracovni- povinnost/
  14. OKEDIRAN, J. O., O. S. ILESANMI, A. A. FETUGA, I. ONOH, A. A. AFOLABI, O. OGUNBODE, L. OLAJIDE, A. V. KWAGHE and M. S. BALOGUN, (2020). The experiences of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 crisis in Lagos, Nigeria: A qualitative study. Germs, 10(4), 356-366.
  15. OLAGUNJU, A. T., A. A. BIOKU, T. O. OLAGUNJU, F. O. SARIMIYE, O. E. ONWUAMEZE and U. HALBREICH, 2021. Psychological distress and sleep problems in healthcare workers in a developing context during COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for workplace wellbeing. Biological Psychiatry, 110.
  16. PETZOLD, M. B., J. PLAG and A. STRÖHLE, (2020). Dealing with psychological distress by healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemia. Nervenarzt, 91(5), 417-421.
  17. REN, T., L. CAO and C. TACHIA, (2020). Crafting jobs for occupational satisfaction and innovation among manufacturing workers facing the COVID-19 crisis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(11).
  18. SAHEBI, A., B. NEJATI-ZARNAQI, S. MOAYEDI, K. YOUSEFI, M. TORRES and M. GOLITALEB, (2021). The prevalence of anxiety and depression among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: An umbrella review of meta-analyses. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 107.
  19. SURYAVANSHI, N., A. KADAM, G. DHUMAL, S. NIMKAR, V. MAVE, A. GUPTA, S. R. COX and N. GUPTE, 2020. Mental health and quality of life among healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Brain and Behavior, 10(11). XUE-HUI, F., L.
  20. WU, L. LUN-SHAN, K. XIAO-HONG, H. WANG, X. YAN-JUN, M. DONG-CHUN and W. GUO-CUI, (2021). Mental health problems and social supports in the COVID-19 healthcare workers: a Chinese explanatory study. BMC Psychiatry, 21, 1-8.