Job burnout and its influencing factors among primary healthcare workers during the COVID-19 epidemic in Guangzhou, China, 2021-2022: from the perspective of institutional operation and management.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore the job burnout of primary healthcare workers in Guangzhou during the prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic and its influencing factors from the perspective of institutional operation and management in 2021-2022. METHODS: A cross-sectional study involved 866 primary healthcare workers from different districts of Guangzhou, China. The Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) was utilized to assess job burnout. From the perspective of organizational operation and management, the possible causes of job burnout among primary healthcare workers during COVID-19 have been categorized into 7 major aspects. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify influencing factors for job burnout in primary healthcare workers. RESULTS: The detection rate of job burnout among primary healthcare workers was 78.29%. Men (OR = 2.39) and whose institution was located in urban-rural fringe (OR = 1.56) were more likely to detect job burnout. Conversely, institution heads showed a lower risk of job burnout. From the perspective of institutional operation and management, workers who were not satisfied with personnel management (OR = 2.41), materials and vehicles (OR = 2.89), subsidies and compensation (OR = 2.18), humanistic care (OR = 2.11), superior management (OR = 8.32) were found to have a higher risk of job burnout. CONCLUSION: The detection rate of job burnout among primary healthcare workers in Guangzhou was relatively high during the period of COVID-19. When there is another sudden major epidemic, the managers of institutions can focus on and deal with the problems related to the operation and management of institutions such as personnel management, materials and vehicles, subsidies and compensation, humanistic care, and superior management, so as to provide logistical support for the workers and alleviate their job burnout.

Challenges of epidemiological investigation work in the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of the epidemiology workforce in Guangdong Province, China.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to identify the epidemiological investigation challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and offer insights into the underlying issues. DESIGN: An exploratory qualitative study used thematic analysis of semistructured and in-depth individual interviews. SETTING: This study was conducted in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Guangdong Province. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-four participants consented to participate in an in-depth interview. Transcribed recordings were managed using NVivo software and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: The qualitative analysis revealed five key themes: high-intensity epidemiological investigation task, emergency management requiring improvement in the early stage, respondent uncertainty, impact on work and social life and inadequate early-stage Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism. CONCLUSION: This survey focuses on the epidemiology workforce at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic and qualitatively describes their experiences, vocational issues and psychological stressors. We found that the problems of epidemiological investigation posed intense challenges to the epidemiology workforce. These findings highlight the epidemiological investigation challenges associated with this pandemic. We have provided some suggestions that may help improve the efficiency and quality of the epidemiology workforce in China.

Vaccine hesitancy among parents and its influencing factors: a cross-sectional study in Guangzhou, China.

Vaccine hesitancy is a major obstacle to the achievement of universal child vaccination, which has been studied extensively in Western countries but much less so in Asian countries, especially China. This cross-sectional survey is aimed to assess the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy and to explore the reasons for vaccine hesitancy among parents in Guangzhou. In January 2020, a questionnaire adapted to the Chinese setting from a widely-used hesitancy scale was administered to a sample of parents who brought their children aged <13 years to Community Health Service Centers for vaccination in Guangzhou. The incidence of vaccine hesitancy among those parents was 6.6% (50/755). Regression analysis showed that differences in socio-economic characteristics were not associated with the occurrence of vaccine hesitancy among parents in Guangzhou. However, strong distrust of domestic vaccine quality (OR = 10.9, 95% CI = 1.5-81.4), being required to have their children vaccinated for nursery and school entry (OR = 3.6, 95% CI = 1.7-7.7), and not being aware of which vaccines are officially required and which are optional (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.1-4.3) were the risk factors significantly associated with vaccine hesitancy. In order to increase parents' trust in domestic vaccine quality and reduce the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy, it is essential to strengthen quality control in domestic vaccine manufacturing and to proactively disseminate clear and accurate information about vaccines to parents. Furthermore, advocating the value of vaccination among all citizens of Guangzhou is crucial.