70% of Public Health Center Workers Say Current Staffing Insufficient to Handle Prolonged COVID-19 Response

Gyeonggi-do and Professor Yum Myung-soon's Team Survey Over 500 Gyeonggi-do Public Health Center Staff
Half of Respondents Report "Severe Stress State Requiring Immediate Help"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seven out of ten COVID-19 response personnel working at public health centers currently believe that the current staffing levels at public health centers are insufficient to cope with the prolonged COVID-19 situation in South Korea.

On the 10th, Gyeonggi Province and Professor Myung Yoomsoon’s team from Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health announced that they conducted a perception survey on psychological quarantine for COVID-19 among 517 COVID-19 response personnel in Gyeonggi Province from the 18th to the 26th of last month, revealing these findings.

When asked whether the current staffing levels at public health centers are sufficient to respond to the prolonged COVID-19 situation domestically, 72.9% of respondents answered "difficult." Those who answered "average" accounted for 18.2%, and only 8.9% said "possible."

Regarding work perception, respondents reported difficulties such as ▲a large objective workload (86.8%) ▲severe time pressure (84.5%) ▲high uncertainty due to frequent changes in work content (83.6%) ▲severe pressure from factors outside working hours (82.8%).

Among the response personnel, about 49% were in a "high-stress state requiring immediate help," nearly half of the total. By occupation, nurses accounted for the highest at 58.7%, followed by public health workers (54.4%), medical technicians (53.2%), and administrative staff (43.8%). When divided by career length, those with "3 years or more but less than 10 years" showed the highest proportion at 54.8%, with "10 years or more" (54.7%) and "1 year or more but less than 3 years" (52.8%) at similar levels.

The "severe anger" state requiring immediate help was found in 37% of respondents. The main trigger (open-ended question) was "malicious complaints" such as unreasonable civil complaints, which accounted for 44%, the highest. As a measure to reduce such complaints, about 62% responded that "practical workforce expansion is necessary."

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

As for improvement demands, ▲in the work field, establishing a system such as rotation work cycles (28.4%) and measures to address physical and mental health impacts (24.6%) ▲in the compensation field, guaranteeing appropriate rest time rather than economic compensation (34.4%) and establishing a proper incentive system for overtime work (32.1%) ▲others included fostering dedicated personnel (40.2%) and specifying response personnel standards and compensation through legal amendments (29.4%).

Professor Myung Yoomsoon analyzed, "This survey is a continuation of the 2020 survey and focused on public health center personnel whose COVID-19 response roles have increased as the Omicron variant spread intensified. It showed that they are working while experiencing high stress and anger that could negatively affect not only their health but also their work coping abilities."

Ryu Young-chul, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Health and Wellness Bureau, said, "This survey confirmed that public health center COVID-19 response personnel have been suffering from prolonged heavy workloads and that 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. We will seek possible solutions through expert consultations and discussions with related departments."

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