Analyse des risques perçus des prestataires de santé en milieu hospitalier dans le cadre de la pandémie à COVID-19: une étude qualitative dans le Centre Hospitalier Roi Baudoin de Guédiawaye, lors de la réception du 1(er) cas communautaire du Sénégal

INTRODUCTION: health care systems in West Africa have been under strain since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The exposure of health personnel to infection during the COVID-19 pandemic has been reported in several studies. The purpose of this study was to analyze health workers’ actual and perceived risk in the first hospital faced with managing a community-acquired COVID-19 case in Senegal. METHODS: we conducted an exploratory descriptive study of health care providers’ perception about their own risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty-seven health-care providers were interviewed in personal, extensive interviews in this hospital. RESULTS: the fear of disease was present among the health staff. This fear was caused by several exogenous and endogenous factors, including the lack of knowledge of the virus and COVID-19 disease, the feeling of vulnerability due to insufficient availability of personal protective equipment, healthcare professionals’ position in relation to the priesthood from the medical profession and the real and perceived risk of putting their family and their entourage in potentially dangerous situations. CONCLUSION: this study highlights the need for psycho-affective management of health care workers during this pandemic by taking the gender dimension into account. The provision of personal adequate protective equipment and stress management measures could enable front-line workers to cope with this pandemic in complete serenity.