Assessment instrument of risk factors for exposure to SARS-CoV-2 among health care workers with suspected COVID-19.

Introduction: Health professionals are at high or very high risk of being infected with COVID-19, making it essential to adopt control and protection measures. The World Health Organization developed a risk assessment instrument to identify possible protection failures and to guide corrective actions.

Objectives: To test an adapted version of this instrument among health care workers with a suspected case of COVID-19.

Methods: The World Health Organization instrument was translated and adapted with the participation of health care workers. The adapted version was inserted into Google Forms and applied to 211 health care workers with a suspected case of COVID-19 in three public hospitals.

Results: Fifty-five percent of workers were nursing professionals. The main risk factors for exposure to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were failures in training, in donning and doffing, and in the use and maintenance of personal and collective protective equipment; problems in cleaning rooms and equipment; and changes in work organization. The assessment instrument fulfilled its purpose of assessing risk factors for exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and helped adopt the corrective and preventive measures required to prevent COVID-19 among health care workers.

Conclusions: The adapted instrument proved to be an important support tool to improve risk management and protection of these workers.