key: cord-0726294-rdi17dv7
authors: Kutlu, Ömer; Özdemir Çetinkaya, Pınar; Hanifi Kandemir, Mehmet; Temel, Mehmet Turgut; Aybal, Tahsin
title: The burnout and workload impact on recurrent COVID‐19: Analysis of two healthcare professionals
date: 2021-07-06
journal: Int J Clin Pract
DOI: 10.1111/ijcp.14136
sha: 53e5e0c5d0647b476a05a76824d67938e5db88b4
doc_id: 726294
cord_uid: rdi17dv7

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The burnout and workload impact on recurrent COVID-19: Analysis of two healthcare professionals Coronavirus To the best of our knowledge, there are only a few reports available on the recurrent COVID-19. [2] [3] [4] Herein, we would like to present two health care professionals who had recurrent COVID-19 that can be evaluated in the context of work-related stress and increased exposure to viral load. After returning to work, the patient had a 24-hour shift at the hospital every other day for 14 days. At the end of the 2 weeks, he had still had complaints of dry cough without fever; thus, a control RT-PCR test was performed again on the nasopharyngeal swab and was found positive. The routine complete blood count and biochemical tests were within normal limits except high d-dimer level (1001 ng/ml).

The condition of the patient was considered as a prolonged infection and he was followed up without medication. After a week, RT-PCR test was negative. The patient started to work intensively again in the COVID-19 outpatient clinic. Twenty-five days later, the patient developed anosmia and dysgeusia along with a sudden-onset fever, fatigue and cough complaints. The RT-PCR test was positive again, while there was no abnormality in the chest computer tomography (CT) scan. The patient was followed up only with paracetamol, 9 days later the RT-PCR test turned into negative.

A 32-year-old dentist was actively working in the field for identification and follow-up of the contacts/co-exposed individuals. Although there were mild to moderate symptoms, the chest CT scans of the patients were normal. Both patients were working intensively in positions dealing with COVID-19 patients after their first recovery. In this regard, work-related burnout and stress in healthcare professionals might cause a decrease in the immune system that results in secondary serious diseases. It should be also noted that healthcare professionals are exposed to increased viral load when they work intensely. Therefore, it can be speculated that decreasing the risk of recurrent infections can be possible by reducing the workload of healthcare professionals. Governments are more focused on the social measures to prevent the spread of the virus, but they neglect healthcare professionals. The decrease in the number of actively working healthcare professionals because of recurrent infections may also contribute to the collapse

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Positive RT-PCR test results in patients recovered from COVID-19

Positive RT-PCR test results in 420 patients recovered from COVID-19 in Wuhan: an observational study

Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes