SAFER investigators.

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the need to rapidly assess infection risks for healthcare workers within the hospital environment. Using data from the first year of the pandemic, we investigated whether an individual’s COVID-19 test result was associated with behavioural markers derived from routinely collected hospital data two weeks prior to a test. The temporal and spatial context of behaviours were important, with the highest risks of infection during the first wave, for staff in contact with a greater number of patients and those with greater levels of activity on floors handling the majority of COVID-19 patients. Infection risks were higher for BAME staff and individuals working more shifts. Night shifts presented higher risks of infection between waves of COVID-19 patients. Our results demonstrate the epidemiological relevance of deriving markers of staff behaviour from electronic records, which extend beyond COVID-19 with applications for other communicable diseases and in supporting pandemic preparedness.

新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）疫情凸显了快速评估医疗机构内医护人员感染风险的迫切需求。本研究依托疫情第一年的相关数据，探究了医护人员的新冠病毒检测结果与其检测前两周内，从医院常规采集数据中提取的行为标记是否存在关联。医护人员行为的时空特征具有关键影响：在疫情第一波流行期间，接触更多患者的医护人员，以及在收治多数新冠患者的病区楼层内活动频次更高的医护人员，感染风险最高。黑裔、亚裔与少数族裔医护人员（BAME）以及轮班频次更高的医护人员，其感染风险相对更高。在两波新冠疫情高峰之间的时段，夜班医护人员的感染风险更为突出。本研究结果证实，从电子病历中提取医护人员行为标记的方法具备流行病学应用价值，其适用场景不限于新冠疫情，可推广至其他传染病防控领域，并为疫情大流行备灾工作提供支撑。