Medical workers suffer from burnout, Covid-19 infection

The outbreak of the new coronavirus (Covid-19) hit Korea hard in 2020. The pandemic is still threatening the nation with continuing outbreaks in greater Seoul. The medical community suffered a significant setback in hospital management due to Covid-19 responses. However, social distancing practices prompted physicians to try out telemedicine as well, albeit temporarily. A variety of issues other than Covid-19 also rocked the medical community this year. Doctors took collective action against the government’s push for four healthcare policies, such as expanding medical student numbers and establishing a state-run medical school. In protest, senior medical school students refused to take the state medical licensing exam. An internal medicine specialist was arrested for causing a patient’s death by administering a colon cleanser without knowing the patient had a bowel blockage. The government promoted the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), the control tower of the nation’s fight against Covid-19, to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDA). The Ministry of Health and Welfare introduced a system of two vice ministers, each leading the public health and welfare policies. This year, the government started a pilot program to allow herbal medicines to receive national health insurance coverage, despite the medical community's protest. Korea Biomedical Review has compiled the 10 biggest medical stories in 2020. —Ed.

Myongji Hospital’s medical staff are treating a Covid-19 patient in a state-designated negative-pressure room.

The year-long Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated physicians’ burnout as they could not get sufficient rest and support.

After battling the first large outbreak of Covid-19 in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province in the spring and going through a tough summer, healthcare workers are now severely exhausted to handle the pandemic's third wave in the winter.

Gyeonggi Public Health Policy Institute conducted a survey, jointly with the research team of Professor You Myung-soon of Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health, on 621 healthcare workers fighting against Covid-19 from July 21 to July 29.

The poll showed that over 70 percent of the respondents said their Covid-19 work was intense.

When asked how intense Covid-19 work was, the respondents said the intensity was 6.61 out of 10 on average. Epidemiologists and assistant workers felt their work intensity was the strongest, giving the score at 7.05, followed by 6.89 with officials at public health centers, 6.5 with nurses, and 6.43 with other medical staff excluding nurses.

About 74 percent of the healthcare workers said they suffered from burnout at work, and 33.8 percent experienced all of the three components of burnout -- emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and low self-efficacy.

The health authorities have failed to provide any measure to curb the burnout of medical professionals. In the hot summer, some medical staff with protective clothing fainted, prompting the government to support cooling equipment. However, the support came too late to help the medical community practically.

Some doctors and nurses contracted the virus from Covid-19 patients. Until April, when Covid-19 cases spiked in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, 243 medical workers were confirmed with Covid-19. One internal medicine specialist contracted the virus after seeing a Covid-19-infected outpatient in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, and died.

Doctors had to fight not only extreme fatigue but Covid-19 infection. There were reports of medical staff infections at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in August, Chonnam National University Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, and Wonkwang University Hospital in November.

Mindful of infection risks, doctors shunned from applying for internal medicine specialists' opening by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in December. This contrasts with the volunteering of numerous doctors who went to Daegu and the neighboring region to help fight Covid-19 in the spring and summer.

The problem is that physician burnout, and infection risks are still prevalent.

The health and welfare ministry recently raised a daily payment for a private doctor to treat seriously ill patients to 850,000 won ($772) at maximum.

However, government measures are still too insufficient to relieve medical workers’ accumulated fatigue and prevent infection risks, observers said.

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Myongji Hospital’s medical workers are treating a Covid-19 patient in a state-designated negative-pressure room.