Dental Workload Reduction during First SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Survey

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Abstract

An observational cross-sectional survey was planned to analyze the weekly workload reduction of German dentists during lockdown due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were predominantly members of the Free Association of German Dentists and filled in an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to a total of 9416 dentists, with a response rate of 27.98% ( n = 2635). Respondents were divided into seven macro areas by gross domestic product. Nearly two-thirds of dentists (65.16%) reported a reduction in their practice workload of more than 50% compared to the pre-pandemic period with statistically significant differences between German macro areas ( p < 0.01). Weekly workload was reduced during the lockdown in 93.00% of study participants, while 55.33% dental care centers with multiple employed dentists under the direction of a non-dentist general manager had only a 40% reduction in weekly workload compared to a solo practice or a practice of a dentist with an employed dentist (30.24% and 28.39%, respectively). Dentists in Germany drastically reduced their practice activity during the first wave of the COVID-19 lockdown, both in rural and urban areas. Short, medium, and long-term effects of the pandemic on dental practices, dental staff as well as patient care need to be further investigated.

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The experiences of health-care providers during the COVID-19 crisis in China: a qualitative study

Qian Liu, Dan Luo, Joan Haase … (2020)

Summary Background In the early stages of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hubei, China, the local health-care system was overwhelmed. Physicians and nurses who had no infectious disease expertise were recruited to provide care to patients with COVID-19. To our knowledge, no studies on their experiences of combating COVID-19 have been published. We aimed to describe the experiences of these health-care providers in the early stages of the outbreak. Methods We did a qualitative study using an empirical phenomenological approach. Nurses and physicians were recruited from five COVID-19-designated hospitals in Hubei province using purposive and snowball sampling. They participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews by telephone from Feb 10 to Feb 15, 2020. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Haase's adaptation of Colaizzi's phenomenological method. Findings We recruited nine nurses and four physicians. Three theme categories emerged from data analysis. The first was “being fully responsible for patients' wellbeing—‘this is my duty’”. Health-care providers volunteered and tried their best to provide care for patients. Nurses had a crucial role in providing intensive care and assisting with activities of daily living. The second category was “challenges of working on COVID-19 wards”. Health-care providers were challenged by working in a totally new context, exhaustion due to heavy workloads and protective gear, the fear of becoming infected and infecting others, feeling powerless to handle patients' conditions, and managing relationships in this stressful situation. The third category was “resilience amid challenges”. Health-care providers identified many sources of social support and used self-management strategies to cope with the situation. They also achieved transcendence from this unique experience. Interpretation The intensive work drained health-care providers physically and emotionally. Health-care providers showed their resilience and the spirit of professional dedication to overcome difficulties. Comprehensive support should be provided to safeguard the wellbeing of health-care providers. Regular and intensive training for all health-care providers is necessary to promote preparedness and efficacy in crisis management. Funding National Key R&D Program of China, Project of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education in China.

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The prevalence and risk factors of psychological disturbances of frontline medical staff in China under the COVID-19 epidemic: workload should be concerned

Yongjie Zhou, Wenjuan Wang, Yanping Sun … (2020)

Highlights • Psychological disturbances of frontline medical staff are more than those of general population. • Daily working hours are a risk factor for all measured psychological disturbances in frontline medical staff. • Some other factors may be involved in certain psychological disturbances of frontline medical staff.

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Covid-19 effects on the workload of Iranian healthcare workers

Esmail Shoja, Vahideh Aghamohammadi, Hadi Bazyar … (2020)

Background In this study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the workload and mental health of Iranian medical staff using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and NASA -Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) Questionnaire between March and April 2020, respectively. Methods The present cross-sectional study was conducted from March 5th to April 5th, 2020. To evaluate the workload and mental health of participants NASA-TLX and GHQ-12 online questionnaires were distributed. Data were entered into software SPSS (Version 23) and T-test, ANOVA, Regression methods were used for data analysis. Results Health workers who encountered COVID- 19 patients, were subjected to more task load compared to those who had no contact with COVID- 19 patients at the workplace (p < 0.001). In terms of the subscale score of NASA-TLX, nurses had more scores in mental pressure, physical pressure, time pressure (temporal), and frustration compared to the other jobs (p < 0.05). Moreover, nurses had significantly more workload compared to the other jobs. Conclusions Type of job, the shift of work, educational level, and facing COVID-19 affected the score of NASA-TLX. NASA-TLX scores were higher in nursing compared to the scores of other health staff groups. The results of this study indicate that the scores of NASA-TLX and GHQ-12 among staff who had contact with COVID-19 patients were significantly higher than those who did not face COVID-19 patients. We suggested that a comprehensive assistance should be provided to support the well-being of healthcare workers especially nurses and healthcare workers who treated COVID-19 patients. Supplementary Information Supplementary information accompanies this paper at 10.1186/s12889-020-09743-w.

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Giorgio Rappelli: Role: Academic Editor

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Environ Res Public Health

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Environ Res Public Health

Journal ID (publisher-id): ijerph

Title: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Print): 1661-7827

ISSN (Electronic): 1660-4601

Publication date (Electronic): 19 March 2021

Publication date Collection: March 2021

Volume: 18

Issue: 6

Electronic Location Identifier: 3164

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Restorative, Preventive and Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland; guglielmo.campus@ 123456zmk.unibe.ch

[2 ]Department of Periodontology and Operative Dentistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, D-55131 Mainz, Germany; james.deschner@ 123456uni-mainz.de

[3 ]Free Association of German Dentists/Freier Verband Deutscher Zahnärzte (FVDZ), D-53117 Bonn, Germany; has.FVDZ@ 123456fvdz.de (H.S.); drs.buehrens@ 123456t-online.de (P.B.); gudrun.kaps@ 123456t-online.de (G.K.-R.)

[4 ]Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Science, University of Milan, I-20142 Milan, Italy; maria.cagetti@ 123456unimi.it

[5 ]Department of Surgery, Microsurgery and Medicine Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Sassari, I-07100 Sassari, Italy

[6 ]WHO Collaborating Centre for Epidemiology and Community Dentistry, University of Milan, I-20142 Milan, Italy

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[* ]Correspondence: thomas.wolf@ 123456zmk.unibe.ch ; Tel.: +41-31-632-35-80

Author information

Thomas Gerhard Wolf https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4044-1893

Maria Grazia Cagetti https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2704-0585

Guglielmo Campus https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8573-485X

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Publisher ID: ijerph-18-03164

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18063164

PMC ID: 8003293

PubMed ID: 33808537

SO-VID: 26aa1fcd-6bf3-4cf9-a9c4-e75a3a33781f

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Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Dental Workload Reduction during First SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Lockdown in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Survey

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The experiences of health-care providers during the COVID-19 crisis in China: a qualitative study

The prevalence and risk factors of psychological disturbances of frontline medical staff in China under the COVID-19 epidemic: workload should be concerned

Covid-19 effects on the workload of Iranian healthcare workers

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