Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33881006›Full record

ArticleLa Medicina del lavoro2021

Thermal discomfort in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marco Lembo, Carmela Vedetta, Umberto Moscato, Michele Del Gaudio

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in La Medicina del lavoro, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 19% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Marco LemboFunzione Servizio Prevenzione e Protezione, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù - IRCCS, Roma, Italia. marco.lembo@opbg.net.
Carmela VedettaUOC di Neonatologia e Terapia Intensiva Neonatale, Azienda Ospedaliera S. Giuseppe Moscati di Avellino, Italia. carmelavedetta@gmail.com.
Umberto MoscatoIstituto di Sanità Pubblica, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Roma - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italia. umberto.moscato@unicatt.it.
Michele Del GaudioINAIL Settore Certificazione, Verifica e Ricerca. UOT di Avellino, Italia. m.delgaudio@inail.it.
Azienda Ospedaliera S.Giuseppe Moscati · ITBambino Gesù Children's Hospital · ITIstituto Nazionale per l'Assicurazione Contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro · ITUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionDue to the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are now required to use additional personal protective equipment (PPEs) to protect themselves against the virus. That led to an increased clothing insulation which is negatively affecting the perceived healthcare workers' thermal sensation.

objectivesWhile demonstrating through software simulations the potential level of thermal discomfort healthcare workers involved in the COVID-19 emergency can be subjected to, this work aims at identifying measures to improve thermal sensation perception and acceptable thermal conditions for medical personnel.

methodsAfter having obtained the insulation values of individual clothing used by staff during COVID-19 emergency through the use of a thermal well-being evaluation software, the Fanger indexes (PMV - Predicted Mean Vote and PPD - Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied) were calculated in order to estimate staff satisfaction to microclimatic conditions.

resultsThe use of COVID-19 additional PPEs with an air temperature equal to 22 °C (normally considered optimal) brings the PMV index equal to 0.6, which corresponds to 11.8 % being unsatisfied (PPD) due to perceived heat. DISCUSSION: The use of additional protective devices significantly increases the clothing insulation level, facilitating the onset of conditions of thermal discomfort in the health workers. Workers engaged in the execution of nasopharyngeal swabs were most affected by the summer weather conditions and certainly represent the most critical category, for which it would be recommended to implement a higher turnover of service to reduce individual exposure time and consequent discomfort.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsHealth PersonnelHumansPersonal Protective EquipmentSARS-CoV-2

Identifiers

PMID33881006
PMCPMC8095330
OpenAlexW3154148729

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-SA
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.