SARS-CoV-2 invades a host cell through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, and infection is established. A symptom such as a cold develops, but a digestive organ symptom, taste disorder and sense of smell disorder are seen. A latency period is 1-14 days (the most frequent is 5 days). Droplet infection and contact infection are the main infection course. 80% of patients are mild, and 20% of remainder needs hospitalization. Case fatality rate is 2-3%. The risk factors of the aggravation include advanced age (65 years or older), the malignant tumor, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, obesity and a smoking custom. In the sex, a man is higher in the death rate than a woman. After having recovered, a variety of symptoms are prolonged, and the subsequent complications (aftereffects) are also problems.
In response to the global epidemic of covid-19, companies are required to operate their businesses in line with the "new lifestyle" over a long period of time. In addition, each industry may have specific risks of infection. Therefore, employers are also required to implement infection control measures suitable for the work environment, and ensure the safety and health of employees.
For implementing appropriate infection control measures, it is important for each company to have a system providing accurate information to the employer. Occupational health professionals can provide accurate and useful information to employers, but it is difficult for small enterprises to take such support. The purpose of this article is to explain how to implement infection control measures suitable for the work environment among companies including small companies.
Objective: Our aim was to improve the hospitality skills of healthcare professionals engaged in health checkups.
Design: Following an in-house hospitality skill training session in January 2018, self-assessment questionnaire surveys were implemented in March, June, September, and December in 30 staff members of our facility. They were asked to read out the low-rated items of their assessment at the start of daily work, and to act with the items in mind. There were six self-assessment categories: "greetings", "attitude", "wordings", "facial expression", "appropriate clothing" with 5, 12, 10, 6, and 15 items, respectively, and "others". The score for each item was 1 point for successful achievement and 0 points for unsuccessful achievement, and the results were compared on a percent basis.
Results: A categorical comparison of the initial (March) and final (December) self-assessments revealed significantly improved ratings for all categories at the last time point (85%±21% vs 99%±5% for "greetings", 75%±25% vs 93%±14% for "attitude", 73%±21% vs 91%±17% for "wordings", 71%±27% vs 90%±15% for "facial expression", 94%±8% vs 98%±4% for "appropriate clothing"). Male subjects showed significantly less improvement in "attitude" at the final assessment (83%±14% vs 95%±13%, p=0.03) and significantly lower rating for "facial expression" at the initial assessment (50%±20% vs 77%±24%, p=0.02). No significant difference was found between age strata (30s-40s vs 50s-60s) or occupational strata (nurses vs clerical workers).
Conclusions: Multiple surveys using the self-assessment table showed that self-assessments improved for all categories. Sex-related differences included lower value on the initial self-assessment for "facial expression" and less improvement in "attitude" in male subjects than in female subjects. These findings are useful in developing guidance for hospitality skill training.
Venipuncture complications happen in medical examinations. To create a safer method of venipuncture, we investigated the incidence rate of complications in 52,830 cases of venipunctures, from patients who visited our medical examination center between April and December 2018. We compared the differences of incident rate among the selected venous and the kinds of needle. The incident rate was 0.17% totally, 0.15% in the cephalic, 0.13% in the medial cubital, and 0.35% in the basilic vein, significantly higher in the basilic compared to the medial cubital (p<0.001) and cephalic veins. Regarding needles, the incidence rate was significantly higher in syringe needles (0.54%), compared with butterfly needles (0.18%, p<0.001) and straight needles (0.12%, p<0.001). Regarding the types of complications, pain was observed most frequently (37.2%), bruising and hematoma 28.7%, vasovagal reaction 24.5%, and numbness 9.6%. The complications of vessel injuries (bruising and hematoma) were observed in more elderly cases compared with nerve injuries (pain and numbness). Vasovagal reaction was higher in younger age groups. Using these results, we determined as follows: avoid the basilic vein and recommend the use of butterfly needles although straight needles could be used in the clearly visible cephalic or medial cubital veins.