Modern Russian and Foreign methods of healthcare personnel protection from new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) risks: Analytical review

Abstract

Introduction. On December 31, 2019, the World Health Organization announced the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and medical workers appeared on the frontline in combating the new threat. Daily interactions with infected patients, extended working hours and psychological overload: All this makes healthcare professionals extremely vulnerable to a new danger. Therefore, the actual priority is to prevent the nosocomial spread of the disease and the protection of medical personnel. Aim-exploration and generalization of Russian and international experience of COVID-19 pandemic combating in terms of creating the most efficient system of health workers' protection against the infection, caused by a new virus SARS-CoV-2. Methods and materials. The systematic reviews and meta-analyzes reporting method (PRISMA) were used in the review. The search was carried out in the bibliographic databases Elibrary, PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar. Moreover, Russian and foreign methodological documents from the official websites of organizations were analyzed. Results. Examination of epidemiologically safe space organizing models in different countries showed that the majority of the existing in the world community approaches to protect medical personnel from contracting a new coronavirus infection are based on five basic strategies of infection prevention and control to prevent or limit the transmission of COVID-19 proposed by the World Health Organization. The article proposes a sixth strategy in addition to the above: Psychological support for health workers. Conclusion. Effective use of the listed complex of six protective measures can minimize the risk of medical workers' infection with coronavirus.