Investigation on mask use of hospital staff of Guangxi medical institutions during the epidemic

  Objective  To know the mask use of hospital staff in Guangxi hospitals during the epidemic.

  Methods  A selfdesigned structured questionnaire was used to survey 6 098 hospital staff from 26 medical institutions in 12 cities in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in January 2022. The survey population was divided into 3 groups: low, medium, and high risk areas. The similarities and differences in mask selection and wearing behavior among different personnel were compared.

  Results  A total of 5 821 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective recovery rate of 95.46%. The lower rate of correct behavior during wearing was to check the nose bridge and side of the mask for air leakage (74.0%, 4 309 persons) and to avoid touching the outside of the mask with hands while removing (69.8%, 4 063 people). Totally 2 744 people (47.1%) had their masks replaced within 4 hours; 4 007 people (68.8%) had their hands disinfected before and after wearing masks; and 2 495 people (42.9%) had their masks replaced after taking them off. The differences in mask-wearing methods, mask replacement time, correct wearing behavior, hand disinfection before and after wearing masks, and mask replacement after taking off among staff in different risk areas were statistically significant (P < 0.05), while the staff in high-risk areas had the best behavior, including use of head-mounted (adjustable) masks. About 41.9% felt that wearing a mask caused discomfort reactions, and the difference in discomfort incidence rate among staff in diferrent areas was statistically significant (P < 0.05), with the highest rate of staff in high-risk areas; 67.8% of hospital staff could correctly choose masks, with the highest rate of correct selection among staff in low-risk areas. Most surveyed respondents gave positive evaluations of their institution's measures to manage mask use.

  Conclusions  Hospital staff had a relatively weak understanding of the protective effect of masks, and a small part of them had unsafe behavior when wearing masks. Medical institutions should strengthen supervision, management, and publicity training on correct mask-wearing behavior among hospital staff based on survey results to change unsafe mask-use behaviors among hospital staff.