Newswise — WASHINGTON, DC (May 18, 2020)—Researchers at the George Washington University (GW) recently launched a global survey of health care workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic with the hope of learning more about exposure and finding solutions to help protect workers from the virus.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health care systems around the world and has created enormous challenges for healthcare workers,” said Adnan Hyder, MD, PhD, MPH, senior associate dean for research and professor of global health at the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH). “Given the urgency in finding solutions to the shortages in protective equipment and the risk of contracting the virus, we expect the findings from this survey to be very valuable.”
The project, Global Observations and Views of Emergency Frontline Health Workers Survey in COVID-19 (GLOVES-19), will operate for three months and is supported by GW. Hyder and Kate Douglass, MD, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), serve as lead investigators on the study.
The researchers have developed an online tool to gather information on workers providing direct clinical care to patients who have a COVID-19 diagnosis or symptoms suggesting the illness. They are also asking those who take the survey to talk about their experiences working on the frontlines of this pandemic, their use of personal protective equipment, task shifting, care practices and even their experience of personal illness.
“This survey is critical for understanding the risk and exposure of frontline healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19,” said Douglass. “Adequate protective equipment is essential for safety, which is essential for service.”
The researchers are recruiting participants in the survey through relevant professional associations, social media, newsletters and personal contacts. The online survey is open, self-administered and will not identify any of the healthcare workers. Results from the survey will be presented in the aggregate--without any personal information, Hyder added.
“We expect that GLOVES-19 will result in much needed data from multiple countries, data that can be used to make sure that emergency health care workers have the equipment and tools to make sure they are protected from COVID-19,” said Nino Paichadze, MD, MPH, assistant research professor of global health at Milken Institute SPH and a co-investigator on the project.
“We will need a robust and strong global health care workforce to defeat this virus,” Hyder added.
In addition to Hyder, Douglass and Paichadze, their colleagues from the GW Center for Injury Prevention & Control and the Milken Institute SPH Center on Commercial Determinants of Health are also participating in the project, along with consultants in the United Kingdom.
To fill out the survey click here.
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