Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pediatricians' clinical activity in Cameroon.
Adult
Attitude of Health Personnel
COVID-19
Cameroon
Child
Coronavirus Infections
/ diagnosis
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Health Care Surveys
Health Services Accessibility
/ trends
Humans
Infection Control
/ methods
Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
/ prevention & control
Male
Middle Aged
Pandemics
Pediatricians
/ psychology
Pediatrics
/ trends
Pneumonia, Viral
/ diagnosis
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
/ trends
Professional-Family Relations
Telemedicine
COVID-19
Cameroon
Pediatric outpatient
Pediatricians
Journal
Archives de pediatrie : organe officiel de la Societe francaise de pediatrie
ISSN: 1769-664X
Titre abrégé: Arch Pediatr
Pays: France
ID NLM: 9421356
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Nov 2020
Nov 2020
Historique:
received:
09
06
2020
revised:
25
07
2020
accepted:
11
09
2020
pubmed:
5
10
2020
medline:
21
11
2020
entrez:
4
10
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The outbreak of COVID-19 has imposed many challenges on health systems. The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical activity of pediatricians. We conducted a cross-sectional and descriptive online survey among pediatricians practicing in Cameroon. Data were collected through an anonymous pre-tested Google Form®. Among the 118 pediatricians eligible for the survey, 101 responded (85.6%), of whom 61.2% were women. The pediatric outpatient consultations dropped significantly from 60.4% of pediatricians seeing more than 30 patients per week before the pandemic to 9.9% during the pandemic (P<0.000). According to the occupancy rate of hospitalisation beds, 45.5% of pediatricians reported having 76-100% of pediatric hospitalisation beds occupied per week before the pandemic but no pediatrician reported a similar rate during the pandemic (P<0.000). There was a significant increase in the use of telehealth, ranging from no pediatrician using telehealth "very frequently" before the pandemic to 23.8% using it during the pandemic (P<0.000). Most of the pediatricians had at their disposal surgical masks (96%), care gloves (80.2%), hydroalcoholic gel (99.0%), and soap and water (86.1%). For the management of children, 90.1% and 71.3% of pediatricians experienced difficulties accessing COVID-19 PCR and chloroquine, respectively, and 74.3% declared difficulties for proper isolation of patients. More than half (65.3%) of the pediatricians interviewed were "very afraid" or "extremely afraid" of being infected with SARS-Cov-2, respectively 45.5% and 19.8%. The most frequent reasons included fear of infecting their relatives (85.1%) and of developing a severe form of the disease (43.6%). The reluctance to consult health services expressed by the parents was due to: fear of being infected when leaving their home and especially in the health facility (96%), strict compliance with confinement (30.7%), and financial difficulties of families (13.9%). This work highlights the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the clinical activity of Cameroonian pediatricians. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a significant drop in the use of health facilities, which probably has a negative impact on children's overall level of health. Although the preventive measures explain this drop in attendance at health facilities, the parents' fear of being infected when leaving the house was the predominant reason likely to explain this drop in attendance at health facilities. This could constitute an axis for developing messages to parents to encourage a gradual return to child health services.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
The outbreak of COVID-19 has imposed many challenges on health systems. The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical activity of pediatricians.
METHODS
METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional and descriptive online survey among pediatricians practicing in Cameroon. Data were collected through an anonymous pre-tested Google Form®.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Among the 118 pediatricians eligible for the survey, 101 responded (85.6%), of whom 61.2% were women. The pediatric outpatient consultations dropped significantly from 60.4% of pediatricians seeing more than 30 patients per week before the pandemic to 9.9% during the pandemic (P<0.000). According to the occupancy rate of hospitalisation beds, 45.5% of pediatricians reported having 76-100% of pediatric hospitalisation beds occupied per week before the pandemic but no pediatrician reported a similar rate during the pandemic (P<0.000). There was a significant increase in the use of telehealth, ranging from no pediatrician using telehealth "very frequently" before the pandemic to 23.8% using it during the pandemic (P<0.000). Most of the pediatricians had at their disposal surgical masks (96%), care gloves (80.2%), hydroalcoholic gel (99.0%), and soap and water (86.1%). For the management of children, 90.1% and 71.3% of pediatricians experienced difficulties accessing COVID-19 PCR and chloroquine, respectively, and 74.3% declared difficulties for proper isolation of patients. More than half (65.3%) of the pediatricians interviewed were "very afraid" or "extremely afraid" of being infected with SARS-Cov-2, respectively 45.5% and 19.8%. The most frequent reasons included fear of infecting their relatives (85.1%) and of developing a severe form of the disease (43.6%). The reluctance to consult health services expressed by the parents was due to: fear of being infected when leaving their home and especially in the health facility (96%), strict compliance with confinement (30.7%), and financial difficulties of families (13.9%).
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
This work highlights the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the clinical activity of Cameroonian pediatricians. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a significant drop in the use of health facilities, which probably has a negative impact on children's overall level of health. Although the preventive measures explain this drop in attendance at health facilities, the parents' fear of being infected when leaving the house was the predominant reason likely to explain this drop in attendance at health facilities. This could constitute an axis for developing messages to parents to encourage a gradual return to child health services.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33011025
pii: S0929-693X(20)30203-7
doi: 10.1016/j.arcped.2020.09.004
pmc: PMC7510582
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
423-427Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2020 French Society of Pediatrics. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Références
JAMA. 2020 Apr 28;323(16):1549-1550
pubmed: 32176764
JAMA. 2020 May 19;323(19):1912-1914
pubmed: 32221579
N Engl J Med. 2020 Mar 26;382(13):1199-1207
pubmed: 31995857
Anaesthesia. 2020 Jul;75(7):920-927
pubmed: 32246849
N Engl J Med. 2020 Feb 20;382(8):727-733
pubmed: 31978945
Pediatrics. 2016 Jan;137(1):
pubmed: 26659458
J Hosp Infect. 2020 Jun;105(2):183-187
pubmed: 32278701
Acad Pediatr. 2020 Jul;20(5):628-635
pubmed: 32437881
JAMA. 2020 Jun 2;323(21):2133-2134
pubmed: 32259193
Sudan J Paediatr. 2012;12(2):36-43
pubmed: 27493343
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020 May 15;69(19):591-593
pubmed: 32407298
J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2020 Jun 1;27(6):957-962
pubmed: 32311034
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020 May 22;69(20):630-631
pubmed: 32437340
Int J Surg. 2020 Jun;78:185-193
pubmed: 32305533
Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther. 2020 Jul;18(7):617-624
pubmed: 32362193
Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2020 May;39(5):355-368
pubmed: 32310621
Telemed J E Health. 2019 Feb;25(2):132-136
pubmed: 29847224
Lancet. 2020 Mar 14;395(10227):841-842
pubmed: 32113508