Survey launched to find out Covid-19's effect on health workers

Just how severely does Covid-19 affect health workers?

This is a key question in a joint study between the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s medical school.

Health workers are on the frontline of the global fight against Covid-19. Across the world, with SA being no exception, health workers have been infected by the coronavirus.

The two institutions are seeking to understand how the virus is affecting South African health workers, both physically and emotionally.

The survey, conducted online, will look at various categories of health workers, including nurses, medical practitioners, medical students, support staff and allied health-care workers.

It will also look at whether health-care workers received training on dealing with Covid-19, among other issues.

The survey can be taken by clicking here.

Prof Priscilla Reddy, the lead researcher on the study, has asked "all health workers to please share the link with colleagues so that government can ascertain a better picture of what is happening in the medical fraternity as it responds to Covid-19".

"If we can understand this better, we can ensure the correct interventions to protect health workers physically and emotionally," she said.

Prof Mosa Moshabela from UKZN’s School of Medicine said the study would enhance support to health professionals.

"We are very happy to work with the HSRC on this survey and to be part of national efforts to understand how Covid-19 is impacting on our health professionals," he said. "We ask all health professionals to please take a few minutes to fill in this questionnaire. It will help us to understand how we should help and support you. To make it as easy as possible, we have also chosen a data-free platform."

The data from this survey will be used to advise the government on how to capacitate health workers to ensure they are able to deliver quality services.