Browsing by Author "Limbani, Felix"

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    Perspectives of health care workers towards COVID-19 epidemic response measures at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi
    (Wellcome Trust, 2020-08-31) Limbani, Felix
    This is a hospital-based qualitative descriptive study to investigate health care workers’ perspectives and experience towards potential epidemic response measures at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH). We propose to conduct in-depth interviews with a purposively selected sample of Health Care Workers (HCWs). The Problem Cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Malawi through cross-border and community infections,and the country is at high risk of the spread of COVID-19 epidemic. The healthcare system is fragile, and the population vulnerable to severe disease. Malawi’s national COVID-19 preparedness and response plan has prioritized; prevention, rapid detection, and effective response to any COVID-19 outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized health care workers’ vulnerability of exposure to hazards that put them at risk of infection as a result of being at the frontline of the COVID-19 outbreak response. Hospitals in Malawi have developed and adopted strategies for responding to COVID-19 epidemic including protection of HCWs. We want to know health care workers’ experience and thoughts of the hospital’s COVID- 19 response strategies, response approaches that are feasible to their hospital setting and ideas about what is important when adopting international guidelines. We want to know this so as to ascertain how confident HCWs are in the environment they are working in, and their confidence to provide services in demanding COVID-19 epidemic environment The objectives Broad objective To understand the implementation of COVID-19 response strategies at QECH from perspectives of health care workers in order to inform interventions and standards of appropriate epidemic response strategies and pragmatic adaptation of recommended treatment protocols Specific Objectives 1. To explore barriers and facilitators affecting the implementation of appropriate epidemic response strategies at QECH; 2. To describe how the hospital context, its general functioning, and the broader health system factors including national guidelines affect epidemic response strategies and processes, including measures of surge capacity and reverse triage; 3. To explore how the wider and local context impact on health care workers attitudes and perceptions towards their role in management of COVID-19; 4. To determine the feasibility of WHO recommended clinical management guidelines (diagnostic sampling, use of personal protective equipment and care delivery) and acceptability of pragmatic adaptation to the local resource-limited context. Methodology We will conduct in-depth interviews with a purposively selected sample of HCWs. We will explore their experiences and preferences of the hospital’s epidemic response strategies to determine priorities of HCWs in implementing appropriate epidemic response strategies and factors that affect the successful adoption of internationally recommended treatment and care protocols in a low-income and severely resource-constrained health system. Expected findings and their dissemination Findings from this study will contribute toinclude: (1) understanding factors that would facilitate the adaptation of recommended clinical management guidelines in resource-limited setting; (2)describing the state and availability of resources in the hospital including the infrastructure and the pathway of patients with COVID-19, and their effect on epidemic response measures; (3)recommending priorities of HCWs in implementing appropriate epidemic response strategies. We will disseminate these findings to MoH, national COVID-19 preparedness and response committee, staff and management of QECH, COMREC, College of Medicine, and other partners.