Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative study
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted frontline health workers. However, a neglected dimension of this discourse was the extent to which the pandemic impacted frontline healthcare workers providing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) care. This study aims to understand the experie...
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BMJ Publishing Group
2024-05-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/5/e078957.full |
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| author | Seye Abimbola Ama De-Graft Aikins Margaret Kruk Leonard Baatiema Luke N Allen Sheba Mary Pognaa Kunfah Kwadwo K Koram |
| author_facet | Seye Abimbola Ama De-Graft Aikins Margaret Kruk Leonard Baatiema Luke N Allen Sheba Mary Pognaa Kunfah Kwadwo K Koram |
| author_sort | Seye Abimbola |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted frontline health workers. However, a neglected dimension of this discourse was the extent to which the pandemic impacted frontline healthcare workers providing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) care. This study aims to understand the experiences of healthcare workers with no prior exposure to pandemics who provided care to people living with NCDs (PLWNCDs).Methods A qualitative study design was employed, using a face-to-face in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted in primary healthcare facilities in three administrative regions of Ghana, representing the Northern, Southern and Middle Belts. Only frontline health workers with roles in providing care for PLWNCDs were included. Purposive snowballing and convenience sampling methods were employed to select frontline health workers. An open-ended interview guide was used to facilitate data collection, and thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data.Results A total of 47 frontline health workers were interviewed. Overall, these workers experienced diverse patient-driven and organisational challenges. Patient-level challenges included a decline in healthcare utilisation, non-adherence to treatment, a lack of continuity, fear and stigma. At the organisational levels, there was a lack of medical logistics, increased infection of workers and absenteeism, increased workload and burnout, limited motivational packages and inadequate guidelines and protocols. Workers coped and responded to the pandemic by postponing reviews and consultations, reducing inpatient and outpatient visits, changing their prescription practices, using teleconsultation and moving to long-shift systems.Conclusion This study has brought to the fore the experiences that adversely affected frontline health workers and, in many ways, affected the care provided to PLWNCDs. Policymakers and health managers should take these experiences into account in plans to mitigate the impact of future pandemics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9f38bddb6f584725b51ca98fd8c82f9a |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-05-01 |
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| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-9f38bddb6f584725b51ca98fd8c82f9a2025-08-20T02:41:23ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552024-05-0114510.1136/bmjopen-2023-078957Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative studySeye Abimbola0Ama De-Graft Aikins1Margaret Kruk2Leonard Baatiema3Luke N Allen4Sheba Mary Pognaa Kunfah5Kwadwo K Koram64School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia3 Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana2 Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA2 Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard University T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USAgeneral practitioner and co-director of global primary care1 Department of Public Health, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana4 Epidemiology, University of Ghana Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Accra, GhanaBackground The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted frontline health workers. However, a neglected dimension of this discourse was the extent to which the pandemic impacted frontline healthcare workers providing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) care. This study aims to understand the experiences of healthcare workers with no prior exposure to pandemics who provided care to people living with NCDs (PLWNCDs).Methods A qualitative study design was employed, using a face-to-face in-depth interviews. Interviews were conducted in primary healthcare facilities in three administrative regions of Ghana, representing the Northern, Southern and Middle Belts. Only frontline health workers with roles in providing care for PLWNCDs were included. Purposive snowballing and convenience sampling methods were employed to select frontline health workers. An open-ended interview guide was used to facilitate data collection, and thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data.Results A total of 47 frontline health workers were interviewed. Overall, these workers experienced diverse patient-driven and organisational challenges. Patient-level challenges included a decline in healthcare utilisation, non-adherence to treatment, a lack of continuity, fear and stigma. At the organisational levels, there was a lack of medical logistics, increased infection of workers and absenteeism, increased workload and burnout, limited motivational packages and inadequate guidelines and protocols. Workers coped and responded to the pandemic by postponing reviews and consultations, reducing inpatient and outpatient visits, changing their prescription practices, using teleconsultation and moving to long-shift systems.Conclusion This study has brought to the fore the experiences that adversely affected frontline health workers and, in many ways, affected the care provided to PLWNCDs. Policymakers and health managers should take these experiences into account in plans to mitigate the impact of future pandemics.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/5/e078957.full |
| spellingShingle | Seye Abimbola Ama De-Graft Aikins Margaret Kruk Leonard Baatiema Luke N Allen Sheba Mary Pognaa Kunfah Kwadwo K Koram Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative study BMJ Open |
| title | Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative study |
| title_full | Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative study |
| title_fullStr | Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative study |
| title_short | Frontline health workers’ experiences of providing care for people living with non-communicable diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: a qualitative study |
| title_sort | frontline health workers experiences of providing care for people living with non communicable diseases during the covid 19 pandemic in ghana a qualitative study |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/5/e078957.full |
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