Management of the COVID-19 health crisis: perceptions and experience of night-shift healthcare workers during the first wave of the pandemic in Paris Public Hospitals (the AP-HP Aladdin survey)

Background and objectives - Night-shift hospital healthcare workers (HCW) are exposed to higher health risks due to their rhythm of work. We investigated their perceptions and experiences during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Paris' public hospitals (AP-HP). Methods - We present descriptive analyses of data collected in the online questionnaire of the AP-HP ALADDIN survey (15 June - 15 September 2020, 39 participating hospitals), with a comparison between professional categories of HCW (chi-square and Wald tests). Data were calibrated to be representative of the whole population of HCW in Parisian public hospitals in terms of sex, age, and professional category. Results - Among the 1,387 survey participants (52.3% nurses), 19% changed activity to manage COVID patients. Perceptions were globally similar for all categories of HCW: 90.6% feared to transmit the COVID-19 to close relatives, 65.5% to get it at work, and 77.8% felt more vulnerable to COVID-19. Few (10.1%) reported recent psychological support. Only 19.6% were confident in the authorities to manage the crisis, 58.4% faced difficulties in getting screened, 59.7% in applying protective measures, and 27.6% considered protective measures inadequate. Conclusions - The repercussions of the lasting COVID-19 health crisis must be further analyzed among nightshift HCW in order to answer their health needs. Lessons must be learnt from the first epidemic wave in order to fulfill HCW's expectations in terms of both information needs and individual protection against COVID-19.