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Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea

BACKGROUND: Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, not only medical personnel but also paramedics or emergency medical technicians (EMT) have faced multiple physical and psychological challenges while performing their duties. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychologica...

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Autores principales: Kim, Bongyoung, Kwon, Ki Tae, Hwang, Soyoon, Ryoo, Hyun Wook, Chung, Un Sun, Lee, So Hee, Lee, Ju-Yeon, Park, Hye Yoon, Shin, Ji-Yeon, Bae, Sang-geun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases; Korean Society for Antimicrobial Therapy; The Korean Society for AIDS 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9259908/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35706083
http://dx.doi.org/10.3947/ic.2022.0049
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author Kim, Bongyoung
Kwon, Ki Tae
Hwang, Soyoon
Ryoo, Hyun Wook
Chung, Un Sun
Lee, So Hee
Lee, Ju-Yeon
Park, Hye Yoon
Shin, Ji-Yeon
Bae, Sang-geun
author_facet Kim, Bongyoung
Kwon, Ki Tae
Hwang, Soyoon
Ryoo, Hyun Wook
Chung, Un Sun
Lee, So Hee
Lee, Ju-Yeon
Park, Hye Yoon
Shin, Ji-Yeon
Bae, Sang-geun
author_sort Kim, Bongyoung
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, not only medical personnel but also paramedics or emergency medical technicians (EMT) have faced multiple physical and psychological challenges while performing their duties. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychological effects of managing patients with COVID-19 on the paramedics and EMT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey targeting paramedics and EMT in Korea was conducted in December 2020. An official letter requesting participation and with the link to an online-based survey was sent to the Public Emergency Medical Services. Only one response was accepted from each participant. RESULTS: A total of 326 paramedics and EMT responded to the survey. Among them, 66.3% (216/326) had experience in managing patients with COVID-19. No differences in the distribution of sex, age, working area, duration of working experience, and underlying comorbidities were observed between those who did (COVID-19 group) and did not (non-COVID-19 group) experience managing patients with COVID-19. The percentage of participants who showed severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was significantly higher in the COVID group than in the non-COVID group (11.1% vs. 3.6%, P = 0.029). The participants in the COVID group had a significantly higher mean Global Assessment of Recent Stress Scale score than those in the non-COVID group (18.7 ± 11.1 vs. 16.1 ± 9.9, P = 0.042). The proportion of paramedics and EMT willing to leave their job if given a chance was higher in the COVID group than the non-COVID group (24.1% vs. 9.1%, P = 0.001). Additionally, paramedics and EMT in the COVID group tended to show concern regarding exposure to COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSION: The experience of managing patients with COVID-19 resulted in psychological distress among paramedics and EMT in Korea.
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spelling pubmed-92599082022-07-18 Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea Kim, Bongyoung Kwon, Ki Tae Hwang, Soyoon Ryoo, Hyun Wook Chung, Un Sun Lee, So Hee Lee, Ju-Yeon Park, Hye Yoon Shin, Ji-Yeon Bae, Sang-geun Infect Chemother Original Article BACKGROUND: Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, not only medical personnel but also paramedics or emergency medical technicians (EMT) have faced multiple physical and psychological challenges while performing their duties. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychological effects of managing patients with COVID-19 on the paramedics and EMT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey targeting paramedics and EMT in Korea was conducted in December 2020. An official letter requesting participation and with the link to an online-based survey was sent to the Public Emergency Medical Services. Only one response was accepted from each participant. RESULTS: A total of 326 paramedics and EMT responded to the survey. Among them, 66.3% (216/326) had experience in managing patients with COVID-19. No differences in the distribution of sex, age, working area, duration of working experience, and underlying comorbidities were observed between those who did (COVID-19 group) and did not (non-COVID-19 group) experience managing patients with COVID-19. The percentage of participants who showed severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was significantly higher in the COVID group than in the non-COVID group (11.1% vs. 3.6%, P = 0.029). The participants in the COVID group had a significantly higher mean Global Assessment of Recent Stress Scale score than those in the non-COVID group (18.7 ± 11.1 vs. 16.1 ± 9.9, P = 0.042). The proportion of paramedics and EMT willing to leave their job if given a chance was higher in the COVID group than the non-COVID group (24.1% vs. 9.1%, P = 0.001). Additionally, paramedics and EMT in the COVID group tended to show concern regarding exposure to COVID-19 infection. CONCLUSION: The experience of managing patients with COVID-19 resulted in psychological distress among paramedics and EMT in Korea. The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases; Korean Society for Antimicrobial Therapy; The Korean Society for AIDS 2022-06 2022-06-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9259908/ /pubmed/35706083 http://dx.doi.org/10.3947/ic.2022.0049 Text en Copyright © 2022 by The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, Korean Society for Antimicrobial Therapy, and The Korean Society for AIDS https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Kim, Bongyoung
Kwon, Ki Tae
Hwang, Soyoon
Ryoo, Hyun Wook
Chung, Un Sun
Lee, So Hee
Lee, Ju-Yeon
Park, Hye Yoon
Shin, Ji-Yeon
Bae, Sang-geun
Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea
title Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea
title_full Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea
title_fullStr Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea
title_short Psychological Effects of COVID-19 Patient Management Experience among Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians: A Nationwide Survey in Korea
title_sort psychological effects of covid-19 patient management experience among paramedics and emergency medical technicians: a nationwide survey in korea
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9259908/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35706083
http://dx.doi.org/10.3947/ic.2022.0049
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