Patient-facing healthcare workers and their families have a higher risk of hospital admission with COVID-19 than the general population

Commentary on: Shah ASV, Wood R, Gribben C, et al. Risk of hospital admission with coronavirus disease 2019 in healthcare workers and their households: nationwide linkage cohort study. BMJ. 2020;371:m3582. Published 2020 Oct 28. doi:10.1136/bmj.m3582 Implications for practice and research Organisations should develop policies such as redeployment and equitable work distribution for healthcare workers (HCW) based on risk exposure to COVID-19. Future research should focus on defining the risk for HCW based on degree of exposure. Context The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the importance of identifying the risk of infection in healthcare workers (HCW) and their families.1 Estimating the relative risk of these populations is important for formulating public health measures, maintaining a functioning healthcare system and controlling rates of secondary transmission in the community.2 Previous studies have not given a clear idea of the extent of...
Source: Evidence-Based Nursing - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Editor's choice, Nursing issues, COVID-19 Commentary Source Type: research