9. Psychological intervention of medical staff
During the spread of the epidemic, COVID-19 prevention and control
attracted considerable attention. The highly pathogenic and infectious
COVID-19 undoubtedly poses a great challenge to the health of front-line
medical staff who were in contact with the source of the disease.
According to the existing study results,
medical
staff were at highly risk of infection during the MERS and SARS
outbreaks, with 18.6% of MERS cases occurring in medical staff and 21%
of SARS cases occurring in medical
staff(Chan-Yeung, 2004;
Kim et al.). Due to insufficient
understanding of the characteristics of pathogenic at the beginning of
the epidemic outbreak, a large number of cases occurred among health
care workers one after another. At present, more than 3,000 medical
workers have been infected in china, and unfortunately, several medical
staff have deteriorated and died. In fact,
healthcare
workers were always infected through the use of endotracheal suction and
intubation, nasogastric feed,cardiopulmonary resuscitation and high
flow-rates of oxygen and so on(Gamage et
al., 2005). The high risk presented by these procedures has
implications for medical practice and organization of hospital care
during the current infectious disease outbreak. Therefore, health
workers should not pass up any opportunity to increase their knowledge
and practical skills for the sake of personal safety and effective
working. We should strengthen our emergency response training according
to the Infectious Diseases Prevention Law and Emergency Regulations on
Public Health Emergencies. Every staff shall enhance the protection
awareness and improve the level of diagnosis and treatment in the course
of treatment.
However, with the development of the epidemic, medical personnel would
inevitably experience excessive fatigue, decreased immunity, mental
stress, and even psychological crisis during the long-term and
high-intensity rescue process, which seriously endangers their physical
and mental health which may reduce work efficiency
significantly(S. S. C. Chan et al.).
Studies
have demonstrated that during the outbreak of SARS in 2003, faced with
intense prevention work and increased self-stress, front-line medical
staff felt vulnerable, uncertain, life threatening and even suffered
from mental illness(Dwosh, Hong,
Austgarden, Herman, & Schabas, 2003). Therefore, we cannot ignore
providing psychological counseling and crisis intervention training for
the medical staffs. In addition, reasonable schedules, adequate sleep,
and appropriate diet and exercise are also the keys to improving the
body’s immunity and reducing the risk of suffering.