Health Care Organization Policies for Employee Safety and COVID-19 Pandemic Response

Abstract

Objective: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted the well-being of health care workers. We examined the association between prepandemic perceptions of perceived organizational support for safety (using NOSACQ-50), safety hazards and the pandemic's impact on individual workers and institutions. Methods: Questionnaires from health care staff of five public health care facilities were collected in 2018 (n = 1059) and 2021 (n = 1553). In 2021, 17 workers were interviewed from the same facilities. Results: Interviewees reported that their organizations struggled to communicate due to changing guidelines, inadequate personal protective equipment, training, and infection control, early in the pandemic. Questionnaire reports of decreased staffing and increased workload during the pandemic were associated with lower baseline NOSACQ scores. Conclusion: Survey findings predicted some variation in organizational response to the pandemic. Better organizational policies for employee safety and pandemic planning could improve health care institutions' preparedness.