Perceptions of health care workers regarding risk of exposure to infection in tuberculosis units at a selected hospital in the Vhembe District, South Africa

Abstract

Health Care Workers (HCWs) in tuberculosis (TB) units spend most of their time with TB infected patients. This increases their risk of contracting the tuberculosis disease from their work environment. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of healthcare workers’ risk of exposure to TB infections in TB units at a selected hospital in the Vhembe district of South Africa. The study employed a qualitative approach using an exploratory and descriptive research design. An exploratory design was used to explore the perceptions of HCWs regarding their risk of exposure to tuberculosis whilst performing their duties in the tuberculosis units at the selected hospital. A descriptive design was used to describe the explored perceptions of HCWs regarding their risk of exposure to tuberculosis. Purposive sampling was used to select the hospital and the HCWs who work in Tuberculosis units. A semi-structured interview guide was used to carry out face to face interviews with the participants. Data saturation occurred after interviewing 11 participants. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data and the following themes emerged: perceived susceptibility of healthcare workers to TB infection, perceived severity of TB infection, perceived preventative action towards TB infection and the challenges faced by healthcare workers in TB units. The perceptions of HCWs regarding TB infection requires immediate enforcement of the Occupational Health Act to ensure that institutions of healthcare adhere to prescribed conditions of occupational health. The challenges faced by HCWs need to be addressed so that they can freely execute their duties without fear of contracting TB.