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Examination of Hospital Workers’ Emotional Responses to an Infectious Disease Outbreak: Lessons From the 2015 MERS Co-V Outbreak in South Korea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2018

Heejung Son Open the ORCID record for Heejung Son [Opens in a new window] ,
Wang Jun Lee ,
Hyun Soo Kim ,
Kkot Sil Lee  and
Myoungsoon You
Heejung Son
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, GraduateSchool of Public Health, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic ofKorea
Wang Jun Lee
Affiliation:
Office of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Myongji Hospital, Goyang, Republic ofKorea
Hyun Soo Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Myongji Hospital, Goyang, Republic ofKorea
Kkot Sil Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Infection. Myongji Hospital, Goyang, Republic ofKorea
Myoungsoon You*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health & Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Dr Myoungsoon You, Department of Public Health Science, Graduate School of Public Health & Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea (e-mail: [email protected]).
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Abstract

Hospital workers are critical for a successful response to an infectious disease outbreak and for preventing disease transmission to the community. Therefore, hospital crisis management should implement efforts to improve hospital workers’ preparedness in responding to public health emergencies caused by infectious diseases. Traditionally, preparedness and skill of hospital workers have been emphasized, but awareness of the importance of the emotional mindset of hospital workers in dealing with disease outbreaks has only recently increased; therefore, empirical approaches to examining emotional responses of hospital workers has been limited. This study analyzed qualitative data of the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak in South Korea. In particular, negative emotions and stress experienced by hospital workers who treated patients were characterized, as were the events that triggered such experiences. These events were categorized into four themes (eg, Mistake, Missing, Delay Due to Communication Failure). Identifying events that trigger negative emotions in hospital workers has important implications for hospitals’ management guidance in relation to an infectious disease outbreak. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:504-510)

Keywords

crisis managementdisease outbreaksemotionhospital workers
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , June 2019 , pp. 504 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 

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