Dear Colleagues

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) in support of the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) request your participation in a brief survey that looks at how COVID-19 is impacting on healthcare workers.

Healthcare practitioners play a vital role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and in the process some of them get infected. The HPCSA in its role as regulator is concerned about the general safety and wellbeing of healthcare practitioners. Given the far-reaching implications of the pandemic, the HSRC in partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Medicine has embarked on a survey to gain an understanding on how the virus is affecting the South African healthcare workers – both physically and emotionally. 

The survey will look at some of the following issues:

  • Different perspectives of healthcare workers and supporting staff in the health sector
  • Current roles in the healthcare sector
  • COVID-19 training of healthcare workers
  • Levels of knowledge, awareness and attitudes to COVID 19
  • The use and access to Personal Protective Equipment in the workplace
  • Perceptions of risk in the workplace
  • Concerns in relation to COVID-19
  • Health and psychosocial wellbeing of the respondents

The survey is conducted on a social media platform Moya Messaging, which can be accessed data-free. To participate in this anonymous survey, please click on the following link: www.hsrc.ac.za/heroes.

The protocol for this work was approved by the Human Sciences Research Ethics Committee, ref REC 5/03/20. Should you have any questions or need any further information, please contact the lead researcher, Professor Priscilla Reddy on 082 460 8095 or preddy@hsrc.ac.za.

The data from this survey will be used to advise the government on how to capacitate healthcare workers to ensure that they are able to deliver quality healthcare services, particularly as South Africa prepares for a possible increase in COVID-19 diagnoses later in the year.

The HPCSA continues to support all endeavours aimed at looking after the health and well- being of its healthcare practitioners. 

All the best
The HPCSA Team 

Share This