Notified Occupational Diseases Among Healthcare Workers in a Portuguese Hospital and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Data from a 5-year period

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Introduction: Reliable health information systems (HIS) are crucial for sound decision-making for occupational health services (OHS).Strengthening OHS is essential for a healthy and safe healthcare workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic.This study aimed to assess the presence and utilization of OHS HIS in South African hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was utilized to assess OHS HIS use to inform the COVID-19 outbreak response to protect health workers (HWs) in four hospitals.A validated online questionnaire was administered among purposively selected hospital managers, trade unions and OHS teams.Data were then transferred to Stata for analysis.Results: Seventy-three HWs, representing a combined workforce of 14,743 HWs, participated.Fifty-five percent were female and 65% had an undergraduate qualification.OHS HIS reports were deemed poorly organized by 64%; 31% indicated poor data collection; 37% noted poor data storage, and 33% were unhappy or frustrated with the use of HIS for OHS planning.Over 67% felt OHS HIS needed reforms; 14% reported access to IT developers, and 52% access to IT infrastructure.Only 33% knew the minimum set of OHS indicators, and 51% reported that there was demand for OHS information.None of the hospitals were utilizing electronic OHS HIS including for COVID-19.Conclusions: Overall there is poor knowledge and utilization of OHS HIS, despite the availability of an electronic system in two of the hospitals.It is essential, that all the hospitals are provided with access to OHS HIS, and training and awareness conducted to improve OHS management.