Hospital-Based Health Care Worker Perceptions of Personal Risk Related to COVID-19

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Figure 1.
Levels of altruism of health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic based on occupation.

Table 1.

Demographic Characteristics, Occupational Chracteristics, and COVID-19 Exposure of Responders

Categories	Total (n = 402) N (%)	Medical Providers (n = 184)N (%)	Registered Nurses (n = 218) N (%)	P Value
Sex
Female	308 (76.6%)	110 (59.8%)	198 (90.8%)	<.001
Male	94 (23.4%)	74 (40.2%)	20 (9.2%)
Age, y
<30	115 (28.6%)	59 (32.1%)	56 (25.7%)	<.001
30 to 39	173 (43.0%)	89 (48.4%)	84 (38.5%)
40 to 49	54 (13.4%)	24 (13.0%)	30 (13.8%)
50 to 59	34 (8.5%)	9 (4.9%)	25 (11.5%)
>59	26 (6.5%)	3 (1.6%)	23 (10.5%)
Ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic	236 (58.7%)	116 (63.0%)	120 (50.0%)	<.001
Black, non-Hispanic	53 (13.2%)	8 (4.4%)	45 (20.6%)
Hispanic	14 (3.5%)	6 (3.3%)	8 (3.7%)
Asian	63 (15.7%)	38 (20.6%)	25 (11.5%)
Other	36 (9.0%)	16 (8.7%)	20 (9.2%)
Specialty
Emergency department	44 (11.0%)	12 (6.5%)	32 (14.7%)	<.001
Intensive care unit	61 (15.2%)	29 (15.8%)	32 (14.7%)
Perioperative	32 (8.0%)	8 (4.4%)	24 (11.0%)
Surgery	52 (12.9%)	28 (15.2%)	24 (11.0%)
Medicine	70 (17.4%)	45 (24.5%)	25 (11.5%)
Psychiatry	11 (2.7%)	7 (3.8%)	4 (1.8%)
Women’s services	50 (12.4%)	13 (7.1%)	37 (17.0%)
Other	82 (20.4%)	42 (22.8%)	40 (18.4%)
Parent or primary caregiver for a school age child or younger	106 (26.4%)	44 (23.9%)	62 (28.4%)	.31
Primary caregiver or live with someone > 80 years old	6 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.8%)	.02
Cared for a patient with diagnosed or suspected COVID-19	265 (65.9%)	127 (69.0%)	138 (63.3%)	.23
Has a friend/close relative who contracted COVID-19	149 (37.0%)	68 (37.0%)	81 (37.2%)	.97
Has been in quarantine for potential COVID-19 exposure	51 (12.7%)	22 (12.0%)	29 (13.3%)	.69

Although both clinical and non-clinical staff were surveyed, only responses from medical providers (attending physicians, residents, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) and registered nurses were included in analysis.

Table 2.

Stress Factors of Medical Providers Compared to Registered Nurses

Category	All Responses(n = 402) N (%)	Medical Providers (n = 184)N (%)	Registered Nurses(n = 218)N (%)	P Value
My job is putting me at great risk.	284 (70.6%)	138 (75.0%)	146 (67.0%)	.08
I feel extra stress at work.	318 (79.1%)	142 (77.2%)	176 (80.7%)	.38
I am afraid of falling ill with COVID-19.	290 (72.1%)	132 (71.7%)	158 (72.5%)	.87
I have little control over whether I get infected or not.	227 (56.5%)	109 (59.2%)	118 (54.2%)	.30
I am unlikely to survive if I were to get COVID-19.	35 (8.7%)	6 (3.3%)	29 (13.3%)	<.001
I think about resigning because of COVID-19.	58 (14.4%)	11 (6.0%)	47 (21.6 %)	<.001
I am afraid I will pass COVID-19 on to others.	342 (95.1%)	164 (89.1%)	178 (81.6%)	.04
My family and friends are worried they might get infected through me.	264 (65.7%)	117 (63.6%)	147 (67.4%)	.51
People avoid my family because of my work.	134 (33.3%)	46 (25.0%)	88 (40.4%)	.001
Altruism: Because I want to help the COVID-19 patients, I am willing to accept the risks involved.	267 (63.4%)	147 (79.9%)	120 (55.0%)	<.001

Survey responses were dichotomized to include “agreed” or “strongly agreed” as positive responses. This table shows the frequency of positive responses for each category while also comparing the differences in responses between medical providers and nurses.

Table 3.

Multivariable Linear Regression Model Regressing for Thoughts about Resigning Due to COVID-19 Based on Occupation

Categories(reference group)	Odds Ratio (SE)	95% CI	P Value
Occupation (Reference: Medical providers)
Nurse	3.87 (1.63)	1.69, 8.84	.001
Age, y (Reference: <30)
30 to 39	1.12 (0.48)	0.48, 2.59	.80
40 to 49	0.34 (0.22)	0.09, 1.21	.10
50 to 59	0.88 (0.57)	0.25, 3.13	.85
>60	2.30 (1.41)	0.69, 7.68	.18
Gender (Reference: Male)
Female	1.47 (0.77)	0.53, 4.09	.46
Race (Reference: White, non-Hispanic)
Black, non-Hispanic	0.76 (0.40)	0.27, 2.13	.60
Hispanic	4.86 (3.58)	1.15, 20.62	.032
Asian	1.49 (0.71)	0.58, 3.81	.41
Other	1.77 (0.89)	0.66, 4.72	.26
Specialty (Reference: Emergency department)
Intensive care unit	2.14 (1.38)	0.61, 7.58	.24
Perioperative	2.78 (2.10)	0.63, 12.24	.18
Surgery	0.78 (0.64)	0.15, 3.93	.76
Medicine	1.88 (1.31)	0.48, 7.34	.36
Psychiatry	0.83 (1.11)	0.06, 11.33	.89
Women’s services	2.31 (1.59)	0.60, 8.89	.22
Other	1.78 (1.16)	0.50, 6.36	.37
Parent or primary caregiver for a school age child or younger	0.55 (0.21)	0.26, 1.15	.11
Primary caregiver or live with someone > 80 years old	0.34 (0.35)	0.05, 2.49	0.29
Cared for a patient with diagnosed or suspected COVID-19	1.35 (0.52)	0.63, 2.88	0.44
Has a friend/close relative who contracted COVID-19	0.45 (0.15)	0.23, 0.85	0.015
Has been in quarantine for potential COVID-19 exposure	0.32 (0.13)	0.14, 0.73	0.006
Constant	1.37 (2.44)	0.04, 45.48	0.86

SE, standard error; CI, confidence interval.
After controlling for demographic and COVID-related characteristics, analysis showed that nursing staff had greater odds of considering resignation, those who had a friend or close relative who contracted COVID-19 and those who had been in quarantine had lower odds of considering resignation with a Pseudo R² of 0.1809.

Please Respond to the Following Set of Questions by Responding Yes or No

	Yes	No
Are you a parent or primary caregiver for school-aged child or younger
Are you a primary caregiver for or lives with a person over age of 80
Have you cared for a patient with diagnosed or suspected COVID-19?
Do you have any friends/close relative that have contracted COVID-19?
Have you been in quarantine for a potential exposure to COVID-19?

Please Select How Much You Agree or Disagree with the Following Statements

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neutral	Agree	Strongly Agree
My job is putting me at great risk.
I feel extra stress at work.
I am afraid of falling ill with COVID-19.
I have little control over whether I get infected or not.
I am unlikely to survive if I were to get COVID-19.
I think about resigning because of COVID-19.
I am afraid I will pass COVID-19 on to others.
My family and friends are worried they might get infected through me.
People avoid my family because of my work
Because I want to help the COVID-19 patients, I am willing to accept the risks involved.