The increasing number of COVID-19 cases, as well as the overwhelming workload, constitutes a serious occupational health threat to Emergency Room (ER) nurses working on the frontlines. In Lebanon, where unstable socio-economic conditions reign, the Covid-19 outbreak was added to the plethora of daily challenges faced by healthcare workers. The study’s objective is to explore how Lebanese ER nurses perceived their duty on the frontlines amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

This study employed a descriptive exploratory qualitative design. 15 Lebanese ER nurses working directly with Covid-19 patients were recruited from 3 university hospitals in Beirut. Interviews were held for data collection until data saturation. Subsequent analysis was done via coding of the transcribed verbatim.

The findings showed significant gaps related to preparedness, support, and governmental action. Similarly, the frontliners faced serious challenges that increased their stress levels both physically and mentally. Furthermore, some participants were subject to stigma and had to face irresponsible behaviors during triage. Participants emphasized the need to guarantee a safe environment at work, to provide Covid-19 patients with the needed care.

ER nurses struggled during this pandemic while working on the frontlines. They described their experience as not satisfying, with high levels of stress, danger, and challenges.

The unprecedented disruption brought about by the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had produced tremendous influence on the practice of pharmacy. Sufficient knowledge of pharmacists was needed to deal with the epidemic situation; however, outbreak also aggravated psychological distress among health-care professionals. Therefore, this study aimed to determine knowledge about the pandemic and related factors, prevalence and factors associated with psychological distress among hospital pharmacists of Xinjiang Province, China.

An anonymous online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted by means of WeChat, a popular social media platform in China, February 23-27, 2020, during the COVID-19 outbreak. The survey questionnaire consisted of 4 parts, including informed consent section, demographic section, knowledge about COVID-19, and assessment of overall mental health through World Health Organization’s Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). A score of 8 or above on SRQ-20 was used as cutoff to classify the participant as in psychological distress. SRQ-20 score and related knowledge score were used as dependent variables, demographic characteristics (such as gender, age, monthly income, etc.) were used as independent variables, and univariate binary logistic regression was used to screen out the variables with P < 0.05. Then, the filtered variables were used as independent variables, and multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze associations with sufficient knowledge of COVID-19 and psychological distress.

A total of 365 pharmacists participated in the survey, fewer than half (35.1%; n = 128) of pharmacists attained a score of 6 or greater (out of 10) in overall disease knowledge, and most were able to select effective disinfectants and isolation or discharge criteria. In the multivariable model, age ages 31-40 (odds ratio [OR] = 3.25; P < 0.05), ages 41-50 (OR = 2.96; P < 0.05) versus >50 (referent); primary place of practice in hospitals: drug supply (OR = 4.00; P < 0.01), inpatient pharmacy (OR = 2.06, P < 0.01), clinical pharmacy (OR = 2.17, P < 0.05) versus outpatient pharmacy (referent); monthly income Renminbi (RMB, China’s legal currency) 5000-10,000 (OR = 1.77; P < 0.05) versus < 5000 (referent); contact with COVID-19 patients or suspected cases (OR = 2.27; P < 0.01); access to COVID-19 knowledge remote work+ on-site work (OR = 6.07; P < 0.05), single on-site work (OR = 6.90; P < 0.01) versus remote work (referent) were related to better knowledge of COVID-19. Research found that 18.4% of pharmacists surveyed met the SRQ-20 threshold for distress. Self-reported history of mental illness (OR = 3.56; P < 0.05) and working and living in hospital versus delay in work resumption (OR = 2.87; P < 0.01) were found to be risk factors of psychological distress.

Further training of COVID-19 knowledge was required for pharmacists. As specific pharmacist groups were prone to psychological distress, it was important for individual hospitals and government to consider and identify pharmacists’ needs and take steps to meet their needs with regard to pandemic and other work-related distress.

To investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices (K-A-P) about food safety and nutrition in Chinese adults who were recruited to the online survey during the epidemic of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Participants were recruited by an online snowball sampling method. An electronic questionnaire was sent to our colleagues, students, friends, other professionals and their referrals helped us recruit more participants. The questionnaire included socio-demographic information, the attention paid to COVID-19, K-A-P about food safety and nutrition. Multiple and logistic regression analyses were used to explore related factors of K-A-P.

Totally, 2272 participants aged 24·09 ± 9·14 years, from twenty-seven provinces, autonomous districts or municipalities, with 18·3 % male and 83·4 % with a medical background.

The total possible knowledge score was 8·0, the average score was 5·2 ± 1·6 and 4·2 % obtained 8·0. The total possible attitudes score was 8·0, the average score was 6·5 ± 1·4 and 36·1 % obtained 8·0. The total possible food safety practices score was 5·0, the average score was 3·7 ± 1·0 and 20·7 % obtained 5·0. During this public emergency, 79·4 % participants changed diet habits, including increasing vegetables, fruit and water intake and reducing sugary drinks and snacks. Gender, age, educational and professional background, disease history, the attention paid to COVID-19 and related knowledge were associated with K-A-P.

There was room for the improvement of K-A-P in participants during this public health emergency and further strengthening education about food safety and nutrition is needed. Findings indicate that education should address biased or misleading information and promote nutritious food choices and safe food practices.