Occupational health and safety and associated factors among health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in public health facilities of Bench Sheko zone, Southwest Ethiopia 2022

Abstract

Background: The practice of occupational health and safety by healthcare professionals receives the lion's share and is critical to saving the lives of professionals and others. A few studies were conducted in various parts of the world to assess practice and factors influencing COVID-19 pandemic precautionary measures among health professionals. However, there is little research in Ethiopia, particularly in the study area. Objective: - To assess the level of occupational health and safety and identify associated factors among health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Bench Sheko zone, Southwest Ethiopia 2022. Methods: - Institutional-based Cross-sectional study design was conducted among health care professionals in Bench-Sheko zone public health facilities, using a multi-stage sampling technique from June 1-30/ 2022. Study participants were selected through simple random sampling. Quantitative data were collected via an interviewer-administered open data kit survey tool and for qualitative data; an in-depth interview method of data collection was used. And then data has been exported to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Bi-variable logistic regression has been carried out to select candidate variables with a cutoff point < 0.25. Finally, multivariable logistic regression has been conducted to identify significant variables. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% CI at a 5% level of significance has been used to measure the strength of association. P-value < 0.05 indicates a significant association between variables. While thematic analysis has been done for qualitative data manually by using a log book prepared on the bases of the interview guide. Result: - The study had 418 participants and a response rate of 98%. Nearly half (48.3%) of study participants had a poor practice of occupational health and safety. Work experience <5 years (AOR= 2.30 95% CI: (1.08, 4.89)), availability of soap and bleach (AOR=2.98 95% CI: (1.66,5.33)), the possibility of isolating suspected COVID-19 case (AOR=3.14 95% CI: (1.92, 5.16), Restriction of persons entering the room of patient (AOR=1.67 95% CI (1.02-2.74), availability of infections prevention and control program standards and policy (AOR=: 3.67, 95% CI; (2.19, 6.12), availability of policy and procedure to prevent COVID-19 (AOR= 2.93, 95% CI: (1.74, 4.94) were factors associated with occupational health and safety practice. Conclusion and recommendation: - The result of this study suggested that occupational health safety practice was poor in the study area compared to others. Therefore, an adequate supply of personal protective materials; provision of continuous on-job training, and guidelines for infection prevention must be given to all health care facilities.