Risks of occupational illnesses among health workers providing care to patients with COVID-19: an integrative review

OBJECTIVE: to analyze evidence concerning the risks of occupational illnesses to which health workers providing care to patients infected with COVID-19 are exposed. METHOD: integrative literature review conducted in the following online databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE/PubMed), Web of Science (WoS), Excerpta Medica Data-Base (EMBASE), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Scopus (Elsevier). Original articles published between November 2019 and June 2020, regardless of the language written, were included. A descriptive analysis according to two categories is presented. RESULTS: the sample is composed of 19 scientific papers. Most were cross-sectional studies with an evidence level 2C (n=17, 90%) written in English (n=16, 84%). The primary thematic axes were risk of contamination and risk of psycho-emotional illness arising from the delivery of care to patients infected with COVID-19. CONCLUSION: the review presents the potential effects of providing care to patients with COVID-19 on the health of workers. It also reveals the importance of interventions focused on the most prevalent occupational risks during the pandemic. The studies’ level of evidence suggests a need for studies with more robust designs.