Skip to main content

Table 3 Interventions, adaptations, practices and actions to support health care workers

From: Organisational responses to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on healthcare workers: a qualitative case study from Bogotá, Colombia

Theme category

Interventions, adaptations, actions and improvements

Type

Organisational level

Inter-organisational level

1. Organisational adaptations to retain human resources.

A. Implement joint efforts (employer-employees) to maintain jobs as: take holidays and negotiated temporary reducing the staff salary.

X

 

B. Relocate health workers from out-patient, programmed surgery and other ambulatory services.

X

 

C. Open and enhance homecare services and telemedicine.

X

 

D. Allow work from home.

X

 

E. Contract additional staff to respond to the high volume of patients.

X

 

2. Actions to improve workers’ physical and mental health, foster motivation, and wellbeing

A. Implement on-site drills and biosafety protocols on the proper use of personal protection elements to mitigate the contagion.

X

 

B. Provide PPE according to their risk exposure.

X

X

C. Implement in-house psychiatrists to accompany their emergency team as a response to mitigate fear.

X

 

D. Implement regular refreshment breaks and having collective prayers in COVID-19 areas to support teamwork between the frontline workforce.

X

 

E. Implement personalized transportation, develop technological tools and advocate to reduce violence and stigma against health workers.

X

X

3. Actions, and adaptations to enhance workforce knowledge, training, and availability

A. Develop partnerships and agreements to expand the availability of general practitioners and specialists in the country.

 

X

B. Enhance Adaptations and actions to enhance knowledge, skills and competencies related to the management of complex patients in ICU.

 

X

C. Allow open access to already existing online training libraries.

 

X

D. Adapt traditional health training.

 

X

E. Give the students the option of postponing their practices or allow them to continue voluntarily in the hospitals.

 

X

F. Provide personal protection equipment to students.

 

X

G. Remove students from all high-risk areas of contagion.

X

X