Understanding the condition of disease prevention and control workforce by disciplines, duties, and work stress during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case from Beijing disease prevention and control system.

Objective: The duties, discipline cross-complementation, and work stress of professional staff during the COVID-19 pandemic are analyzed and summarized to provide a scientific basis for workforce allocation and reserve in respect of infectious disease prevention and control in the disease prevention and control (DPC) system. Method: The cross-sectional survey was made in April-May 2021 on professional staff in the Beijing DPC system by way of typical + cluster sampling. A total of 1,086 staff were surveyed Results: Among the 1086 staff surveyed, 1032 staff were engaged in COVID-19 prevention and control works, and they can be roughly divided into two groups by their disciplines: Public Health and Preventive Medicine (hereinafter referred to P, 637 staff, as 61.72%) and Non-Public Health and Preventive Medicine (hereinafter referred to N-P, 395 staff, as 38.28%). During the COVID-19 pandemic, the 1,032 staff assumed a total of 2239 duties, that is, 2.17 per person (PP), or 2.45 PP for the P group and 1.72 PP for the N-P group. As to four categories of duties, i.e., Spot Epidemiological Investigation and Sampling, Information Management and Analysis, On-site Disposal, Prevention, Control Guidance, and Publicity, the P group accounts for 76.14, 78.50, 74.74, and 57.66%, respectively, while the N-P group accounts for 23.86, 21.50, 25.26, and 42.34%, respectively. Obviously, the former proportions are higher than the latter proportions. The situation is the opposite of the Sample Detection and Other Works, where the P group accounts for 25.00 and 31.33%, respectively, while the N-P group accounts for 75.00 and 68.67%, respectively. The analysis of work stress reveals that the P group and N-P group have similar proportions in view of full load work stress, being 48.67 and 50.13%, respectively, and the P group shows a proportion of 34.38% in view of overload work stress, apparently higher than the N-P group (24.05%). Moreover, both groups indicate their work stresses are higher than the pre-COVID-19 period levels. According to the analysis of work stress factors, the duty quantity and cross-discipline tasks are statistically positively correlated with the probability of overload work stress. Conclusion: The front-line staff in the DPC system involved in the COVID-19 prevention and control primarily fall in the category of Public Health and Preventive Medicine discipline. The P group assumes the most duties, and the N-P group serves as an important cross-complement. The study results indicate that the prevention and control of same-scale epidemic require the duty post setting at least twice than usual. As to workforce recruitment, allocation, and reserve in respect of the DPC system, two solutions are optional: less addition of P staff, or more addition of N-P staff. A balance between P and N-P staff that enables the personnel composition to accommodate both routine DPC and unexpected epidemic needs to be further discussed.