COVID-19 Health Worker Data Alliance Aims to Establish Best Practices in the Battle Against the Virus
A new health worker data collection campaign, supported in part by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, is tracking the physical, psychological, and occupational effects on frontline medical staff treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health Worker Data Alliance created a confidential, HIPPA-compliant, web-based survey that collects self-reported data from frontline health workers in weekly intervals. The survey link can be texted out by each hospital’s administrators one time, and their workforce can elect to participate. All data is independently collected, contains identifiers that can only be accessed by the researchers, and takes four minutes to complete. “Health workers are three times more likely to contract COVID-19,” said Maria Demopoulos, project director and Founder of Athe Consulting. “This is an alarming rate. And even after the curve flattens, they will continue to be exposed for a long time. But having information on how quickly they become sick, how