Psychological distress among infectious disease physicians during the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Republic
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Psychological distress among infectious disease physicians during the response to the COVID-19 outbreak in the Republic of Korea Se Yoon Park1†, Bongyoung Kim2†, Dong Sik Jung3, Sook In Jung4, Won Sup Oh5, Shin-Woo Kim6, Kyong Ran Peck7, Hyun-Ha Chang6* and The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases
Abstract Background: This study aimed to investigate psychological distress among infectious disease (ID) physicians during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in the Republic of Korea. Methods: Using an online-based survey link sent via text message and email, we conducted a survey from April 21 to 25, 2020, targeting all ID physicians currently working in ID (n = 265). The questionnaire was based on the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales, and information was collected on factors protecting against psychological distress and difficulties in relation to COVID-19. Results: Of 265 ID physicians, 115 (43.3%) responded, showing burnout (97, 90.4%), depression (20, 17.4%), anxiety (23, 20.0%), and stress (5, 4.3%). There were no differences in terms of distress between ID physicians who were directly involved in the care of patients with COVID-19 or not. Greater than 50% of physicians valued their work and felt recognized by others, whereas < 10% indicated that sufficient human and financial support and private time had been provided during the outbreak. The most challenging issues concerned a lack of attending physicians caring for COVID-19 patients or infection control practitioners, a shortage of personal protective equipment or airborne infection isolation rooms, pressure for research, and lack of guidelines for COVID-19 management. Conclusions: During the COVID-19 outbreak in the Republic of Korea, most respondents reported psychological distress. Preparing strategies to secure human resources are crucial to prepare effectively for future epidemics and pandemics. Keywords: COVID-19, Infectious diseases medicine, Burnout, Psychological, Psychological distress, South Korea
* Correspondence: [email protected] † Se Yoon Park, and Bongyoung Kim are contributed equally to this work as co-first authors. 6 Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, 130 Dongdeok-ro, Daegu, Jung-gu 41944, South Korea Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the art
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