Assessment of exposure risk to COVID-19 disease and its association with the burnout and Intention to leave the profession in pre-hospital emergency personnel of Tabriz and Urmia in 2020

Abstract

Abstract Background: Prehospital emergency personnel are often the first health care providers that contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients and play a key role in patient outcomes. With the spread of the disease, unprecedented workload has been imposed on the pre-hospital emergency system. At the same time, little information is available about the personnel providing emergency medical service (EMS) and their exposure to COVID 19. The aim of this study was to assessment of exposure risk to COVID-19 disease and its relationship with burnout and the intention to leave the profession in pre-hospital emergency personnel. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 335 pre-hospital emergency healthcare workers (HCW), employed in 49 urban ambulance stations of Tabriz and Urmia cities from northwest of Iran. They were selected based on census sampling method. Data collection tools consisted of 4 questionnaire. The first questionnaire is related to the demographic and job characteristics. The second questionnaire was adapted from a tool developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for risk assessment and management of exposure of HCW in the context of COVID-19 and a questionnaire to assess burnout and another to assess intention to leave the profession. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 21). Pearson correlation coefficients were used to examine the correlation between the exposure risk of COVID-19 disease with burnout and the intention to leave the profession. Results: The results showed that The most common examinations performed by personnel were check vital signs (94/6%) and classic COVID-19 symptoms (80/3%). oxygen therapy for patients (92/5%), transfer to medical centers (83%) and administration of Intravenous) IV( line for the patient (78/2%) were most of the interventions performed by personnel. The mean and standard deviation of the total exposure risk were 53/71±19/24, burnout 39/83±19/80 and intention to leave the profession 45/07±10/76. The mean score of burnout was in risk of burnout range (3/62) and the intention of participants to leave the profession was in the high range (3/22 of 5). The results also showed that there was a positive correlation between the exposure risk of COVID-19 to job burnout in personnel (r = 0.272 and P < 0.001) and to intention to leave the profession in personnel (r = 0.158 and P < 0.004). Conclusion: According to the results, the exposure risk of COVID-19 in pre-hospital emergency personnel was high that directly affects on the rate of burnout and the intention to leave the profession of personnel. Therefore, to prevent the spread of infection and control the psychological effects of the disease in personnel: their professional training, adequate access to PPE and training on how to use it, compliance with standards in the implementation of protection protocols, increasing job satisfaction and material and spiritual supports seems necessary.