Additional Challenges for Health Care Workers Caused by Covid-19

This report explores the challenges faced by healthcare workers due to Covid-19, including the role of healthcare workers, challenges faced by them, and strategies used to reduce the additional challenge caused by Covid-19. The report also includes a search strategy, critical appraisal using the CASP tool, and recommendations to minimize the impact of additional challenges faced by healthcare workers.

Evidence and Research for HealthCare
Management

Table of Contents
TITLE..............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION (500)..................................................................................................................1
AIM..................................................................................................................................................2
OBJECTIVE....................................................................................................................................2
SEARCH STRATEGY (500)..........................................................................................................2
BODY REVIEW (2000)..................................................................................................................3
Theme 1: Role of healthcare worker in covid-19...................................................................3
Theme 2: Challenges faced by healthcare worker due to Covid-19.......................................6
Theme 3: Ways or strategies used to reduce the additional challenge for healthcare worker
caused by Covid-19................................................................................................................8
CASP tool for critical appraisal..............................................................................................9
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION (500).....................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

TITLE
What are the additional challenges for health care workers caused by Covid-19?
INTRODUCTION (500)
Covid-19 pandemic raises various challenges among healthcare worker in healthcare setting.
In the context with pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 is defined as new type of ribonucleic acid single
strand virus which is first discovered in Wuhan. The sign and symptoms range from the mild
upper respiratory tract infection, usually fever (82%) and cough that is about 81 % to make
severe for the acute respiratory distress syndrome and sepsis. In the current time, mortality of
Covid-19 that help to enhance in older adult or patient with several comorbidities such as chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, tuberculosis, diabetic mellitus hypertension, chronic kidney
disease and heart failure (Bartsch et. al., 2020). The major issue which is arising due to challenge
that is caused due to Covid-19 among healthcare worker. The difficulty that arise in triaging
emergency patient suspected to have the issue of Covid-19 that has major potential to enhance
the spread of disease or illness among the patient with emergency care (Paterson, et. al., 2020,
June). There are limited isolation ward and personal protective equipment that also arise
additional difficulties for healthcare worker to manage the patient. In addition, they also show
challenge situation that is well required to make elaboration with high performance in the
absence of definitive Covid-19 treatment and shows enhancement of number of cases (Boin,
Lodge, & Luesink, 2020).
Lack of knowledge of novel pathogen and pandemic that show preparedness for the control
and management of infection among healthcare worker often lead to show delay diagnosis and
treatment and also disease transmission among health care worker and poor infection control
practice (Haslam, 2021). It is also analysing that outbreak of Covid-19 show various concern
which is enhance the risk of transmission in health worker that may include clinical management
that include oxygen therapy, oxygen administration and non-invasive ventilation. Therefore, it is
also analysing that they require management of airways clearance for patient that may require
tracheal intubation (Browning et. al., 2021).
It is also analysed that healthcare worker may experience wide range of issue that is
workload due to patient admission where they require proper support and care. Due to high range
of patient admission and enhancing the patient rate in Covid-19 where healthcare worker used to
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face additional challenge which may include shortage of quality personal protective equipment,
social exclusion and discrimination, lack of incentive, absence of coordination and so on which
may show the additional challenge for the health worker when they are used to provide service to
patient with covid-19. In addition, the report well covers the additional challenge on the detailed
way which is faced by health worker due to Covid-19. Therefore, the report used to define the
course of action which is require in order to reduce and minimise the impact which is arise due to
additional challenge faced by health worker caused due to covid-19 (Chen et. al., 2021).
AIM
To understand impact of additional challenge for health care worker caused by Covid-19.
OBJECTIVE
 To analyse the role of healthcare worker in covid-19.
 To evaluate the challenges faced by healthcare worker due to Covid-19.
 To examine the ways or strategies used to reduce the additional challenge for healthcare
worker caused by Covid-19.
SEARCH STRATEGY (500)
The search strategy within the research work help to signify method or tool that used to
collect the data and information that is relevant to research topic. In context to this research
process, the topic is about exploring additional challenge faced by health worker cause due to
Covid-19 (Pierce et. al., 2020). Therefore, search strategy helps to examine the challenge which
is act as barrier for healthcare worker in order to support and provide care to the patient with
Covid-19 whether they also face issue for themselves such as facing problem of high workload,
shortage of PPE kit that is require to control the exposure of virus among them while providing
care and so on. These all information is referring as part of example that is extracted from the use
of relevant search strategy that based on research topic (Dougan et. al., 2021).
In this research work, the major of search strategy which is required for the completion of
research process on selected topic that is challenge of healthcare worker caused due to Covid-19
is well investigated. The search strategy that is undertaken are PubMed, Springer Link, Science
direct, and so on which is reliable source to gather the information for the research topic for
research work. In addition, it is well analysed that the search strategy is a part of research which
act as information tool to provide the information of source from which data is collected for the
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research work. Accordance to this research work, the search strategy is above discussed which
allow researcher to interpret data and information for research work. Therefore, the study from
the authentication source that is mentioned above is well validated and reliable for the selection
of data and information which is helpful to play a role for the authenticated data (Fagherazzi et.
al., 2020).
Keywords: Challenges, healthcare worker, covid-19, issue of covid-19 in healthcare.
Article 1: Challenges Faced by Healthcare Professionals During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2021
[Online] Accessed from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8383315/
The main reason of choosing the article is that it is relevant as per design research question.
It is beneficial article to elucidate the data and information as required for research work.
Article 2: Challenges for Healthcare Workers Caring for COVID-19 Patients, 2021 [Online]
Accessed from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00469580211060291
The reason behind choosing this article is that it is well related with healthcare worker and
challenge that they face during Covid-19 which is relevant and develop the sense of knowledge
for data collection based on research work and process.
Article 3: Risk of COVID-19 among front-line health-care workers and the general community,
2020 [Online] Accessed from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-
2667(20)30164-X/fulltext
The major advantage of choosing the article is that it is specifically design to explore risk of
Covid-19 among the healthcare worker which show directly the path which is challenging for
them. The research question is well reliable to explore knowledge regarding healthcare worker
who is dealing with additional challenge occur due to the Covid-19 (Girdhar, Srivastava, &
Sethi, 2020).
BODY REVIEW (2000)
Theme 1: Role of healthcare worker in covid-19
Health care workers played a crucial role as a front line worrier against COVID-19.
Heath care workers had to carry the burden or their shoulder when the emergency was declared
during pandemic. Front line health workers were at higher risk in comparison to general
community. To reckon the differences, a survey was conducted among front line health workers
and general community. Corona test was conducted among both and it was observed that health-
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care workers were found to be tested positive more than general community. All the COVID
patient acknowledge the compassion and bravery of front line health care workers during
pandemic. All the workers were concerned about their family and loved ones but at the same
time they were serving for the country (Gutiérrez, Miravet, & Domènech, 2021).
There are several critical roles that have been implemented and proposed.
Role of a nurse
Role of a nurse during this pandemic is fiercely enlarged and became critical. Nurses played a
vital role in early diagnosis, ongoing motoring of COVID patients and screening. They also
contributed in documenting patient's health status and discussing it with other health care
professionals. The risk of aerial infection has increased to the nurses as all patients required
nebulized intubation and medication. Nurses increased their surveillance for wound treatment
and prevention as infection enhanced the patient risk of developing wounds. Shortage of beds
created crowd in wards and to reduce that crowd nurses had to work as housekeeper and
technologist. They made people aware of the cause of prevalence, treatment and prevention.
Nurses helped a lot to manage the crisis during the pandemic as they contributed their opinion to
make strategies to fight fight against COVID. Nurses were reliable for feeding and taking care
of COVID patient. They also make a health report of the patient and submit it to doctor (Huang,
& Zhao, 2021).
Role of medical assistance
Clinical reliabilities of a medical assistance have increased because all the doctors and nurses
became overburden. Medical assistance played a crucial role in patient triage, education and
prep. They also delivered care services under the supervision of their qualified and experienced
physicians. They also contributed in remote patient monitoring as it reduced patient's travel cost
and risk of infection (Jacob et. al., 2020).
Role of medical office administrators
Health care workers played a crucial role as a front line worrier against COVID-19. Heath care
workers had to carry the burden or their shoulder when the emergency was declared during
pandemic. Front line health workers were at higher risk in comparison to general community. To
reckon the differences, a survey was conducted among front line health workers and general
community. Corona test was conducted among both and it was observed that health-care workers
were found to be tested positive more than general community. All the COVID patient
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acknowledge the compassion and bravery of front line health care workers during pandemic. All
the workers were concerned about their family and loved ones but at the same time they were
serving for the country (Li et. al., 2021).
There are several critical roles that have been implemented and proposed.
Role of a nurse
Role of a nurse during this pandemic is fiercely enlarged and became critical. Nurses played a
vital role in early diagnosis, ongoing motoring of COVID patients and screening. They also
contributed in documenting patient's health status and discussing it with other health care
professionals. The risk of aerial infection has increased to the nurses as all patients required
nebulized intubation and medication. Nurses increased their surveillance for wound treatment
and prevention as infection enhanced the patient risk of developing wounds. Shortage of beds
created crowd in wards and to reduce that crowd nurses had to work as housekeeper and
technologist. They made people aware of the cause of prevalence, treatment and prevention.
Nurses helped a lot to manage the crisis during the pandemic as they contributed their opinion to
make strategies to fight fight against COVID. Nurses were reliable for feeding and taking care
of COVID patient. They also make a health report of the patient and submit it to doctor (Lima
and et. al., 2020).
Role of medical assistance
Clinical reliabilities of a medical assistance have increased because all the doctors and nurses
became overburden. Medical assistance played a crucial role in patient triage, education and
prep. They also delivered care services under the supervision of their qualified and experienced
physicians. They also contributed in remote patient monitoring as it reduced patient's travel cost
and risk of infection.
Role of medical office administrators
During pandemic, most valuable role of medical officer’s administrators was communication as
they were responsible for communicating COVID patients regarding postponing and cancelling
procedures and appointments. They were also reliable for distributing safety equipment’s such as
mask, personal protecting equipment’s, testing kits, sanitizers, isolation gloves, eye protection
and hand wash among vulnerable people. Medical office administrators required special skills to
communicate patient and their families (Oh and et. al., 2020).
Role of emergency medical technician
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emergency medical technician was reliable for patient health assessment of pandemic-associated
sign and symptoms. To ensure the safety of the patient, they had to embrace updated health
protocols for fatality management and pre-hospital treatment. Emergency medical technician put
their effort while transporting the COVID patients and coordinate with local authorities and
hospitals in order to supply and control choked shortages. Medical technician plays crucial role
for resolving technical issue associated with medical equipment’s (Petzold et. al., 2020).
Evidence from the past outbreak of COVID suggests that it was very tough for front line
health workers to deal with the crisis as COVID has the ability to spread by asymptomatic
patients. COVID has higher reproduction rate than the other viruses and thus it was very difficult
to reduce the prevalence. Recent study in UK found that front line health care workers were in
direct contact with the COVID patient as they were completely involved in the diagnosis, care
and treatment of the patient. This involvement made them feel scared and stressed. It has been
observed that 57% front line health care workers more likely to have anxiety, 60% more likely to
feel stress and depression where as 61% more likely to have fear. They also had to suffer with
insomnia as they were working day and night. Many of the healthcare workers denied to deliver
services and this created shortage during the international crisis. Health-care professional was
dealing with shortage of PPE kits and this made them at higher risk of infection but they
overcame through their ingenuity and bravery (Santarone, McKenney, & Elkbuli, 2020).
Theme 2: Challenges faced by healthcare worker due to Covid-19
Challenges for front line health-care professionals has been increased due to prevalence
of COVID-19. The aim of this report is to find out the challenges faced by the front line health-
care professionals during pandemic in UK. A qualitative research was conducted during the
pandemic among the health care professional of UK during the pandemic. Health-care
professionals were asked to share their experiences and challenges on telephonic conversation
and it was analysed that participants experienced psychological distress, shortage of medical
equipments and medicines, social stigmatization, absence of coordination, proper management
during their services, lack of resources, lack of incentives and lack of awareness among the
patients. It was very tough to cope with the difficulty due to organisational and situational
factors. Health care professionals reported of belief in god. Many patients denied to get
vaccinated because of their cultural beliefs and it became so difficult to stop the prevalence
(Sarwar, Waheed, Sarwar, & Khan, 2020).
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Shortage of personal protective equipments made them feel sacred because they were at
the at the higher risk of infection. They did not have enough resources to deal with the crisis.
Government had made the promise of distributing free vaccines and medicines to the vulnerable
people but shortage of medicine and vaccine worsen the situation. Participants experience higher
workload as there was shortage of front line health-care workers. Higher workload made them
suffer with anxiety and depression. Social stigma of communicable diseases poses threat to all.
Stigma against the front line workers who were dealing with the COVID patients created hurdles
in the process of treatment. It was not easy to fallow the guidelines and protocols and
continuously changes in the guidelines created confusion among health-care professionals. An
analysis was done to gain the insight of the experience of health-care workers during the
pandemic. This research analysis involved health-care professionals working at Cambridge
university of NHS. All the evidences and information were collected through the in-depth
interviews of front line health care workers. Interviews were recorded as evidence in which
health-care workers shared their challenges faced during the pandemic. They reported
discrimination and stigma both at the community and workplace. Finding also suggests that they
were not getting any governmental support to deal with the crisis. Shortage of beds in wards
created traffic and health care professionals were not able to deliver quality services to patients.
COVID was new for all and thus workers experienced lack of preparedness. It was very difficult
to treat such a huge crowd with the shortage of medical devices and medicines. Prevalence of
COVID-19 has introduced new challenges with long shifts and personal protective kits (Platt, C.,
2021). Long shifts have increases the risk for front line health-care workers to get the infection.
They had to maintain distance from their family and loved ones and it created tremendous stress
on them. It was very tough for on duty front line health-care workers to face violence against
them. Some irresponsible group of people started blaming and shaming health care workers for
the crisis. It completely ruins their courage to fight with COVID. UK has already grave shortage
of front line health care workers during the pandemic, increased the workload of on duty
workers. There was a fear what happen if majority of health-care workers get infected. Medicine
is compassionate profession and front health-care workers had to accept the risk when they
willing chose this profession (Tsamakis et. al., 2020). Many health-care workers reported
ostracisation as people think that they will spread the disease to society from hospitals. Violence
against the front-line health-care professionals get accelerated by fear, disinformation, worry,
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panic, mistrust and misplace quotations in social media during the outbreak of COVID-19.
Patient started giving violent emotional responses to health workers because they were not
getting the access to the treatment. After working so hard health-care professionals were not
getting any incentives for their motivation.
An analysis explored professional, psychosocial and emotional challenges experienced by
female health-care professionals. It was very tough for them to cope with pandemic situation due
to their children and family. Rumours among the public increased the stress and anxiety of health
care professionals. As novel coronavirus was spreading rapidly, health-care workers did not get
the time to make strategies to cope with the pandemic situation. Poor health-care infrastructure
and lack of standard operating procedures increased the prevalence. Lack of training sessions
made the management difficult for health-care professionals. Health care professionals were
having anxiety attacks because of lack of experience and knowledge about the transmission.
There were several communities who believed that corona is curse of a god and it cannot be
treated with vaccine or medicine. This enhanced the difficulty to get people vaccinated in order
to stop the prevalence (Zhang et. al., 2020).
Theme 3: Ways or strategies used to reduce the additional challenge for healthcare worker
caused by Covid-19
There are certain ways to reduce the challenges faced by health-care professionals during
the pandemic which includes maintaining appropriate staffing in healthcare facilities, maximize
resources to cope with the prevalence, remove stigma of communicable diseases and addressing
the shortage of medical equipments and medicines. Reducing and mitigating the risk is very
crucial to stop the prevalence. Abundance of medicines, medical devices, personal protective
equipments and vaccines makes the treatment easier and assist to reduce the stress experienced
by health care professionals. Educating public about the mode of infection, cause and treatment,
assist health-care workers to remove the stigma. Governmental health-care policies need to be
implemented to maintain the quality of health services. Through syndromic surveillance early
detection of COVID-19 among front line health-care workers can be obtained and it will be help
to minimize the risk among the health-care workers (Zhang et. al., 2020). Government requires
to offer incentives to health-care workers dealing with the COVID patients to encourage them for
their hard work. It is very crucial to keep health workers safe to ensure patient safety. It is very
necessary to take initiatives to stop violence against front line workers to protect them from
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biological and physical hazards in order to ensure their safety. Long shift creates workload and
health-care professional lose their patience. Hiring more workers can reduce the workload and
health-care professionals are able to deliver quality health services to their patients. Training
sessions to workers assist them to cope with the stress during the pandemic. Health-care workers
can make people aware of importance of getting vaccinated, assist them to stop the prevalence.
Government requires to make available beds to the patient to reduce the traffic. Number of beds
need to be increased in government hospitals, so health-care workers can manage such a huge
crowd of COVID patients (Zhang et. al., 2020).
CASP tool for critical appraisal
Author/criteria David et. al., 2020 Herley et. al., 2021 Shaharior et. al., 2021
Clear aim? ✔ ✔ ✔
Qualitative/
quantitative
methodology
appropriate?
✖ ✔ ✔
Research design? ✔ ✔ ✖
Data collection? ✖ ✖ ✔
Ethical issue into
consideration?
✔ ✔ ✖
Finding is clear? ✔ ✖ ✔
Is research valuable ✖ ✔ ✖
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION (500)
The study finding suggests that front-line healthcare workers had to suffer a lot with the
burden on their shoulders. A research was conducted to gather evidences and all the the
participants shared their experiences and challenges during the pandemic. Most of the
participants experienced fear, anxiety and depression due to the workload. During the pandemic,
front-line health-care workers were at the higher risk of infection in comparison to general
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community. Epidemic also affected their personal life as they were sacred about their families
and loved ones. Front-line health-care workers were also dealing with stigmatization and it made
difficult to cope with the situation. It was very tough to deliver quality health services with
shortage of medicines and other essential protecting equipments. The pandemic made them
people identify the importance of doctors and other health-care professionals. As the prevalence
rate of COVID was very high, risk associated with the treatment created fear among the health-
care professionals. Outbreak of COVID-19 made them work day and night and due to high
workload they started feeling depression and anxiety.
Researchers recommend health-care workers to setting up a transformed delivery system
to support their well-being and mental health. Health-care professionals and front-line workers
need to make a appeal to their higher authorities and government to increase the availability of
beds. They should also ask for the financial resources to cope with the situation during the
pandemic. Free medicines and essential protective equipments should be distributed among all
the front-line health-care workers to ensure their safety. Free sanitizers need to be distributed to
schools and offices in order to stop the prevalence. Incentives need to be offered to health
workers to appreciate their hard work. Smart beds need to be installed to hospitals which will
assist to reduce burden on health-care workers. There is need to bring awareness among people
to remove stigma which will help to reduce violence against health care professional treating
COVID patients. Strict guild lines need to be designed which would make people follow all the
safety rules and it will be helpful to stop the prevalence. Training sessions are also required to
develop knowledge and skills to deal with stress during the pandemic. Experienced physicians
and doctors need to take training sessions for the junior doctors and nurses which will assist them
to deliver quality health services to the patients. Funding plays a vital role to establish a strong
framework of a health-care system. Scarcity of funding causes shortage of medical equipments
and essential medicines. Government need to make strategies for funding which will help health
care workers to deliver quality health services. Health care professional need to be hired to can
provide health services to the patient at their home which will be helpful to reduce the traffic in
hospitals.
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