Abstract
To assess the impact of wearing masks (KN95, surgical, cloth mask) due to COVID-19 pandemic on interpersonal communication among health care workers and with patients. The present observational study was conducted in tertiary care centre and also included participants from various other health care facilities from all over India over a period of one year from March 2022 to March 2023. 203 health care workers consented to participate in the study. The study was done as an online survey using the questionnaire which was adapted into a Google form consisting of a 15 closed set questions. Participants rated the question using a binary forced choice as either YES or NO. The mean age of participants consenting to the study was 30.9 ± 6.3 SD years,with male predominance (%). Among the choice of use of face mask, 76.35% used surgical mask, 14.77% used KN95 and 8.86% used cloth masks. 15 questions were divided in 5 categories; analysis showed that majority of questions had an affirmative “yes” response. This results of this study indicated that the sudden change in the existing communication situation due to use of face masks in the clinical setup affected interpersonal communication among healthcare workers and with patients, which may also have a bearing on both patient and clinician well being and could have a significant economic impact on health care systems globally. These results provide information about the clinical strain introduced from use of face masks in healthcare settings. Overall, results showed that in healthcare settings, there is increased cognitive load and listening effort for patients and health care providers, as well as changes in clinical efficiency for providers when utilizing masks. These effects are often greater with hearing loss.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Yeshoda K, Siya S, Chaithanyanayaka M et al (2023) Impact of facemasks use on interpersonal communication in a clinical setup: a questionnaire based study. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 12070:765–777
Maryam H, Amal SM, Elham M (2023) Effectiveness of using face masks and personal protective equipment to reducing the spread of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies. Adv Biomed Res 12:36
Mheidly N, Fares MY, Zalzale H et al (2020) Effect of face masks on interpersonal communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Front Public Health 8:582191
Jacqueline NC, Joy EC, Tina TC et al (2021) Patient and health care worker perceptions of communication and ability to identify emotion when wearing standard and transparent masks. JAMA Netw Open 4(11):e2135386
Luo M, Guo L, Yu M, Jiang W et al (2020) The psychological and mental impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on medical staf and general public—a systematic review and meta analysis. Psychiatry Res 291:11319
Wong CKM, Yip BHK, Mercer S, Grifths S, Kung K, Wong MCS et al (2013) Effect of facemasks on empathy and relational continuity: a randomised controlled trial in primary care. BMC Fam Pract 14(1):1–7
Campagne DM (2021) The problem with communication stress from face masks. J Affect Disorders Rep 3:100069
Esmaeilzadeh P (2022) Public concerns and burdens associated with face mask-wearing: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Prog Disaster Sci 13:100215
Bandaru SV, Augustine AM, Lepcha A et al (2020) The effects of N95 mask and face shield on speech perception among healthcare workers in the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic scenario. J Laryngol Otol 134(10):895–898
Acknowledgements
None.
Funding
Nil.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
None.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Questionnaire.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Kalsotra, G., Fayaz, I., Saraf, A. et al. Pattern and Perception of Impact of Wearing Face Masks on Communication Among Health Care Workers During COVID-19 pandemic: An Observational Study. Indian J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 76, 1619–1625 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-023-04369-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12070-023-04369-x