Protection of the health of healthcare workers during pandemic times and responses to the pandemic

Abstract

This text discusses challenges in the development and implementation of response plans against COVID-19. Based on recommendations from the WHO, which emphasizes three groups of objectives to be pursued in these plans, the text advocates the inclusion of the theme of health protection for healthcare workers within the scope of its third objective: “Minimizing the impact of the epidemic on health systems [ ...]”. The highlighting of the use of PPE (PPE), social etiquette and hygiene measures is discussed as potentially minimizers of the importance of administrative and engineering control measures for disease prevention. Emphasis is given to the necessity for training that prepares workers to recognize risky situations associated with the difficulties of new activities arising in the pandemic with an emphasis on new interactions between colleagues, between workers and new instruments and / or with new aspects of contexts. The costs to be paid in the form of impacts on workers' health tend to increase in contexts of degradation of workplace situations associated with rapid evolution of the disease. Two of the challenges of response programs are to recognize and respond quickly to changes that create new risks.