Comparative Risk Assessment of Covid-19 Infection among Personnel Working in a Medical Environment: A Field Study Using Rapid Covid-19 Hazard Analysis (RCHA) Method

Abstract

Background and Objective: Risk assessment is one of the most important measures which results in effectively reducing the prevalence of various health consequences in the workplace. The present study aimed to evaluate and compare the risk of Covid-19 infection in the personnel of a medical environment. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study was performed in a hospital in Ahvaz, Iran. A total of 193 individuals participated in this study. The rapid Covid-19 Hazard Analysis (RCHA) method was the research instrument used in the study. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS software (version 22.0). Results: More than half of the personnel were nurses (51.8%) and about a third were administrative and service occupations (30.1%). The minimum and maximum risk of infection were estimated to be 1 and 600, respectively. These results indicated that three subjects (1.6%) were in the acceptable risk area, 59 subjects (30.6%) were in the tolerable risk area and 131 subjects (67.9%) were in the unacceptable risk area. The comparative assessment revealed that the level of risk of Covid-19 infection was not statistically significant in the four occupational groups (P=0.066). Conclusion: The findings of the study demonstrated that the risk level of Covid-19 infection is high and unacceptable among medical personnel. In addition, despite the differences in the level of risk, the amount of risk is not significantly different between various occupational groups.

Keywords

• covid-19
• medical environment
• rapid covid-19 hazard analysis (rcha)
• risk