Assessment of risk factors for COVID-19 infection in personnel of military medical organizations

Abstract

Relevance. Workers in medical organizations are at risk of developing occupational diseases, including coronavirus infection through frequent contacts with patients and colleagues in the course of their professional activities. Analysis of the causes of infection associated with the pathogen SARS-CoV-2 is the basis for development of preventive measures aimed at minimizing the risk of infection. Intention – development of the main directions for the prevention of COVID-19 morbidity among medical personnel based on a hygienic assessment of occupational risk factors. Methodology. An analysis of cases of a new coronavirus infection among employees of a military medical organization was carried out. An assessment was made of the factors that increase the risk of personnel infection, based on the study of materials from epidemiological investigations and the results of a survey. Results and Discussion. Research has identified factors that increase the risk of COVID-19. An analysis of the causes of the disease showed that in 60 % of cases, infection of personnel is associated with infection at the workplace (contacts with patients – 53.1 %, contacts personnel – 6.9 %), in 38.7 % of cases the cause was not established, in 1.3 % – contacts with sick relatives were registered. A number of specialists from certain professional groups have a higher incidence rate (traumatologists, surgeons, urologists, specialists who carry out sanitary and epidemiological surveillance). It was found that, regardless of the category of work and specialty, during the pandemic, the staff had contacts with sick patients – 78.2 %, contacts with sick colleagues – 53.7 %. Contacts with sick patients increased the risk of developing the disease (RR 1.26; 95 % CI: 1.02–1.55; p = 0.01). The required degree of personnel protection was not provided in this case, which affected the significance of the factor of violation of the rules for the use of PPE (RR 1.66; 95 % CI: 1.11–2.48; p = 0.006) in the risk of developing disease. At the same time, the involvement of personnel to the work in the “red zone” increased the likelihood of the disease (RR 2.98; 95 % CI: 1.24–7.17; p = 0.005). Conclusion. The conducted studies made it possible to establish differences in the level of potential risk for certain categories of medical specialists in non-infectious departments (traumatologists, surgeons, urologists; specialists in charge of sanitary and epidemiological surveillance) and to develop directions for preventive measures based on their analysis.