Abstract
The World Health Organisation (WHO) (2019) recommends that an employer with
approximately 20 000 employees establish a workplace programme that will assist in the
management of occupational exposure in the workplace. The WHO (2019) further
recommends that employers have a responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for
their employees by implementing specific occupational exposure control activities, where
employees are at particular risk of contracting occupational disease in the workplace.
Medical technologists are essential team members of healthcare workers (HCW) who play a
role in the diagnosis and management of disease. Laboratories providing a wide range of
laboratory procedures are operated by medical technologists, which aid physicians in carrying
out the diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients.
The nature of medical technologists' work exposes them to biological hazards and raises their
risk of contracting occupational infections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of
medical specimens to be analysed by medical technologists increased and this increased the
likelihood of occupational exposure.
The aim of this study is to explore and describe the experiences of medical technologists in
Gauteng regarding medical specimen handling and their occupational exposure during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used to gain an in-depth
understanding of the phenomenon. The population of 20 participants was purposively
sampled, and individual face-to-face, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted at
the laboratory, data saturation was reached at participant 10. Data analysis was done using
Tesch’s thematic coding method to code the data. Guba and Lincoln’s framework was utilised
to enhance measures of trustworthiness. Ethical considerations that were adhered to include:
autonomy, non-maleficence, principles of justice and beneficence.
One dominant theme that arose out of this study was ambiguity on how to handle specimens
of COVID-19 and an expectation to perform in an emotionally and physically challenging
working environment and the three themes was negative experiences on handling specimens
during COVID-19, positive experiences on handling specimens during COVID-19 and
challenges on handling specimens during COVID-19.
It is recommended that the employer should provide a safe working environment to the
medical technologists by providing psychosocial support and implementation of occupational
health strategies that will reduce occupational exposure.
Keywords: experience, medical technologists, medical specimen handling, occupational
exposure, COVID-19 pandemic.