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Risks of occupational illnesses among health workers providing care to patients with COVID-19: an integrative review* * This article refers to the call “COVID-19 in the Global Health Context”.

Objective:

to analyze evidence concerning the risks of occupational illnesses to which health workers providing care to patients infected with COVID-19 are exposed.

Method:

integrative literature review conducted in the following online databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE/PubMed), Web of Science (WoS), Excerpta Medica Data-Base (EMBASE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Scopus (Elsevier). Original articles published between November 2019 and June 2020, regardless of the language written, were included. A descriptive analysis according to two categories is presented.

Results:

the sample is composed of 19 scientific papers. Most were cross-sectional studies with an evidence level 2C (n=17, 90%) written in English (n=16, 84%). The primary thematic axes were risk of contamination and risk of psycho-emotional illness arising from the delivery of care to patients infected with COVID-19.

Conclusion:

the review presents the potential effects of providing care to patients with COVID-19 on the health of workers. It also reveals the importance of interventions focused on the most prevalent occupational risks during the pandemic. The studies’ level of evidence suggests a need for studies with more robust designs.

Descriptors:
Coronavirus Infections; Occupational Exposure; Health Personnel; Allied Health Personnel; Nurses; Physicians


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