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Dire PPE shortage affecting morale: Study
Of the more than 350 healthcare workers surveyed, around 60% reported being less willing to work than usual.
Many healthcare workers fear infecting their families due to inadequate PPE supplies.
The Edith Cowan University (ECU) study found around half of the doctors, nurses and paramedics who responded to the survey did not have access to the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to do their job safely.
Nearly 70% of participants said they have been asked to ration their use of PPE, while around 30% noted that colleagues have resorted to using non-traditional or non-vetted forms of PPE, with doctors more likely to report this than nurses and paramedics.
Associate Professor Erin Smith and Dr Brennen Mills from ECU’s School of Medical and Health Sciences said doctors are more likely overall to report a lack of access to PPE, in particular face masks, face shields, gowns and hand sanitiser.
‘Just over 20% of all participants reported being tested for COVID-19,’ Professor Smith said.
‘Thirty per cent have chosen to physically isolate themselves from other members of their household, including sleeping in different bedrooms or moving out of the family home in an attempt to protect loved ones.
‘We [also] found 17% of participants had undergone a period of self-isolation due to work-based exposure to COVID-19. Doctors were more likely to do this than paramedics or nurses.’
Participants said they were more concerned about being exposed to COVID-19 at work compared to in the community and 61% are worried they will be infected with COVID-19. More than three quarters reported concerns that their colleagues would be infected.
However, the survey highlighted that the health and wellbeing of loved ones, particularly those within their immediate households, generates even more anxiety. More than 80% were concerned about exposing family members to the virus, and for 41% this concern was rated as ‘extreme’.
‘They are worried that by doing their jobs, they could potentially go home and infect their loved ones,’ Professor Smith said.
‘They have every right to be concerned with the thousands of healthcare workers around the world infected and hundreds dead.’
Professor Smith said the findings help ‘crystallise’ a difficult ethical dilemma – at what point does the risk to personal safety and concern for loved ones begin to outweigh the desire to work?
Already, nearly 80% of participants have reportedly started weighing their professional obligation (‘I should work’) with personal risk (‘I could get infected, I could infect my family’), and around 60% said they are less willing to work than usual.
Doctors and nurses were more likely to report an impact on willingness to work compared to paramedics, which the researchers said potentially reflects the greater difficulties hospitals and general practice clinics have had accessing PPE, compared to the emergency pre-hospital environment.
The lack of access to PPE was strongly associated with levels of anxiety and stress, particularly for doctors and nurses. It was also directly related to how safe healthcare workers felt doing their job, with 80% feeling less safe now than before COVID-19.
Compounding issues related to a lack of PPE, according to the survey, is inadequate communication between employers and healthcare workers. Around half of all participants believed their workplace was failing to do everything possible to protect them.
‘There were clear concerns regarding the perceived transparency and timeliness of communications from employers, particularly around PPE,’ Professor Smith said.
‘Our frontline workers need to know how much PPE there is and when they are likely to run out, and what we are hearing is that this clear information is not coming.
‘These results are important as they paint a clear picture of frontline troops in the war against COVID-19 struggling to access the PPE they need to protect themselves.’
The RACGP has more information on coronavirus available on its website.
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