Impact of Safety Measures in Endoscopic Procedures in Health Care Professionals during Corona Virus Pandemic

Background and Aims: During the Corona Virus Disease-19 outbreak, it is believed that ten percent of all health care professionals (HCPs) were affected. HCPs' safety measures have changed because of aerosol-generating techniques. As a result, we looked at the effectiveness of endoscopic safety measures and prevalence among HCPs who operate in an endoscopy unit.

Methods: Techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) serum-assay were used to assess the COVID-19 status of 117 healthcare workers (HCWs). It has been shown that the existence of the COVID-19 is related to demographic variables, work profile, location of employment, & medical history in research.

Results: 38 HCWs tested positive for COVID-19 using either a PCR assay (23.93%) or simply an IgG testing (32.48 percent) (8.55%). COVID-19 incidence was significantly greater (P = 0.003) among endoscopy technicians when compared to doctors (68.75% (20.69%). Those who worked in critical care units were shown to be more susceptible to COVID-19 (42.86%). One hundred and sixty-six healthcare workers who received enough hydroxychloroquine prophylaxis were tested for COVID-19, and none were positive. Everyone who had been exposed to COVID-19 recovered. There was also a substantial decrease in the number of "man-days" worked.

Conclusion: We discovered a statistically significant COVID-19 risk among healthcare workers in the Gastroenterology department, with endoscopy technologists having the highest risk. More stringent triaging & pre-testing of patients and healthcare workers may help to decrease the risk of COVID-19 infection. Additional multicenter studies are needed to further understand the risk and its related variables.