Abstract
Coronavirus 2019 is considered the health disaster of the century and has caused a wave of global panic. Healthcare professionals were at the forefront of this pandemic to provide quality care respecting the safety of patients and the environment. The objective of this study is to determine the preventive measures applied by healthcare professionals towards patients and the environment to combat Covid19. The study was realized during April and May 2020 at the public hospital dedicated to the care of Covid patients in central Morocco in Meknes. Convenience sampling was used to collect the data. 104 people participated in the study, including 61 (58.7%) nurses and 12 (11.5%) doctors. Also, 73 (70.2%) of the healthcare professionals were men and 35 (33.7%) contracted the Coronavirus during their healthcare activity. According to the participants, the causes of this infection lie mainly in their interaction with their professional environment (71.4%). The main preventive measures applied by healthcare professionals were regular hand washing and wearing 104 masks (100%), of which 88 (84.6%) used the FFP2 mask and wore personal protective equipment. However, healthcare professionals were found to adopt other environmental practices, including surface disinfection 95 (91.3%), ventilation and sterilization of premises 46 (44.2%), maintenance and sterilization of equipment 78 (75%), and effective management of hospital waste 75 (72.1%). The study concluded that the preventive measures applied by the professionals were sufficient and complied with global recommendations to minimize the risk of contamination and maintain a healthy healthcare environment for themselves and their patients.
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Acknowledgements
All the authors thank the assistance of the students Mbara Kaoutar and El Khloufi Oumayma during the data collection as well as the unconditional help of the healthcare professionals of Sidi Said Hospital who accepted to participate in this study.
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El-Mouhdi, K., Mehanned, S., Bouzid, J. (2023). Control of COVID 19: Knowledge and Practices of Health Professionals in Hospitals Towards Patients and the Environment in Morocco (Meknes). In: Mabrouki, J., Mourade, A., Irshad , A., Chaudhry, S. (eds) Advanced Technology for Smart Environment and Energy. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25662-2_19
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