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.