4 The frequent admission of COVID-19 patients at various health facilities coupled with inadequate hospital staff increases the workload of healthcare workers and ultimately manifests in anxiety or depression, giddiness, tiredness, and a high sense of vulnerability to the risk of contracting the virus. The rapid rate of increase in COVID-19 infections has caused not only the risk of death but has also created unbearable psychological effects. This will consequently reduce the availability of healthcare professionals and can result in burnout among healthcare workers. 3 Health facilities, as well as, the physical and mental well-being of healthcare workers can be tested when patient loads are increasing while losing other hospital staff through infections. Ghana's healthcare staffing gap or shortage was reported to be 41% before the COVID-19 pandemic. 1 One major challenge of the Ghanaian healthcare system is the shortage of personnel. The WHO estimates about 115,000 cumulative death of healthcare workers from COVID-19 as of May 2021. In an attempt to manage and control this highly contagious pandemic, healthcare workers face the most risks and challenges. The job demands of healthcare workers coupled with inadequate medical resources such as protective equipment for medical personnel and shortage of human resources during pandemics make working in the health sector a difficult and challenging task. 1 The rapid and serious outbreak of this pandemic has resulted in urgent responses, including lockdowns, social distancing, travel restrictions, regular washing of hands, and mandatory wearing of nose masks. As of September 22, 2021, the world had recorded over 225 million cases of COVID-19 infections, with over 4.5 million deaths. The Novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has had a great effect on the lives and well-being of people in many parts of the world, stretching many healthcare systems beyond their capacity with healthcare providers at the forefront in the fight to save the lives of people. Furthermore, social and psychological support and work environment situational assessment, which can reduce stress and anxiety levels among the healthcare workers, should be implemented if contributing factors such as working outside their area of expertise or job scope cannot be eliminated. In terms of health and safety at work, this study recommends that there should be an improvement in implementing safety protocols at health facilities to increase the confidence of healthcare workers. The perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 at the workplace was also 1.780 times higher for healthcare workers with tertiary education. The odds of high perceived risk were 2.239 times higher for workers who are always emotionally fatigued and 1.829 times higher for healthcare workers who frequently contribute personally to workplace decision-making. The odds of a high perceived risk versus the combined medium and low perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 at the workplace was 0.461 times lower for healthcare workers who rated their workplace safety systems as good and 0.515 and 0.170 times lower for healthcare workers who indicated occasional and frequent work environment situational assessment (situational awareness), respectively. Overall, 5.93% of the respondents perceived low risk of contracting COVID-19 while 69.45% and 24.62% perceived medium and high risks of contracting COVID-19 at the workplace, respectively.
MethodsĪ cross-sectional survey of 455 respondents was conducted.
This study sought to assess the relationship between job factors and the perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 at the workplace among healthcare workers and how the relationships are augmented when sociodemographic characteristics are taken into consideration in a limited resource setting (Ghana). The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched many healthcare systems, and it is having detrimental impacts on healthcare workers at the forefront, fighting to save lives.