72.9% of Public Health Center Staff in Gyeonggi-do Say "Current Conditions Make Long-term COVID Response Difficult"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] A survey found that 7 out of 10 COVID-19 response personnel at public health centers in Gyeonggi-do believe that the current staffing levels make long-term COVID-19 response difficult.

A research team led by Professor Yoo Myung-soon from the Graduate School of Public Health at Seoul National University and Gyeonggi-do disclosed the results of the "Gyeonggi-do COVID-19 Psychological Quarantine Perception Survey" conducted from the 18th to the 26th of last month targeting 517 public health center personnel in the province on the 10th. This survey is the third, following those in May 2020 and August 2020.

When asked whether the current staffing levels at public health centers are sufficient to respond to the prolonged COVID-19 situation in Korea, 72.9% of respondents answered "difficult."

In particular, they reported difficulties such as ▲ objectively heavy workload (86.8%) ▲ severe time pressure (84.5%) ▲ high uncertainty due to frequent changes in job content (83.6%) ▲ severe pressure from factors outside of working hours (82.8%).

Additionally, 49% of the response personnel reported being in a "high-stress state requiring immediate help."

By occupation, nurses accounted for the highest at 58.7%. By career length, those with 1 to less than 3 years of experience made up 52.8%.

Furthermore, the survey measuring frustration found that 37% were in a "severe frustration" state requiring immediate help. The main trigger (open-ended question) was "malicious complaints" such as unreasonable civil complaints, which accounted for 44%. As a measure to reduce such complaints, 62% responded that "practical workforce should be expanded."

Regarding insufficient elements related to safety and health in COVID-19 response, 79.9% responded that "disaster psychological response and support for stress" were insufficient.

Professor Yoo Myung-soon evaluated, "This survey is meaningful as it is a continuation of the 2020 surveys and focuses on public health center personnel whose COVID-19 response roles have increased at the time when the Omicron variant infection spread is intensifying."

Ryu Young-chul, Director of the Gyeonggi-do Health and Wellness Bureau, explained, "The survey results confirmed that COVID-19 response personnel at public health centers have been suffering from long-term heavy workloads and their mental health status has significantly deteriorated. As confirmed cases are rapidly increasing recently, the workload of public health center staff is expected to worsen, so we will seek possible solutions through expert consultation and coordination with related departments."

Meanwhile, this survey was conducted via a web-based questionnaire with a confidence level of 95% and a sampling error of ±4.3%p.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.