Abstract
This study aimed to analyze stressors to which medical staff is vulnerable due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. It also imposes a hierarchy on complex relations among stressors for excavating underlying structure and builds a model of interrelationships contrasting reality. The design of this study comprises a literature survey, data collection from primary sources, and analysis. Stressors have been explored from within current published/unpublished literature and validated by experts through approval vote. Data were collected from the focus group (panel of experts), and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) was used as the research methodology. Findings of ISM are avowed through “cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification” (MICMAC) analysis. As a result of the literature survey, a list of stressors was generated, and a total of 19 stressors qualified as representative of the phenomenon. The results of ISM show that two stressors (i.e., “unavailability of proper personal protective equipment (PPE)” and “lack of proper communication”) emerged as the most critical stressors since they occupy the bottom of the model, whereas, four stressors (i.e., “anxious about isolation/quarantine,” “subject to violent crimes,” “feeling frustrated and powerless,” and “exhausting shifts/hours without clear end”) are relatively less critical since they occupy the top of the model. The rest of the stressors occupy the middle of the model and therefore, have moderate-severe effects on frontline soldiers. The results of MICMAC show that the stressor “subject to violent crimes” is classified in the dependent cluster and the remaining fall in the linkage cluster but no stressor falls in independent and autonomous. Overall results indicate that all stressors are relevant to the phenomenon under this study, but they are currently not settled. This study is invaluable for policymakers, frontline soldiers, researchers, the international community, and society since it provides a lot of new information that is helpful in refining strategies and combating influential stressors.
Highlights
With the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic in 2019 from Wuhan, China, the dynamics of healthcare changed altogether
Shaded diagonal cells are ii part of the matrix that differentiates ij part of the matrix from ji
The frontline medical staff and their families are continuously exposed to life threats during the severely affected time of the pandemic
Summary
With the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic in 2019 from Wuhan, China, the dynamics of healthcare changed altogether. Even the most advanced nations with the best healthcare systems are unable to cope with an unexpected rise in the number of patients requiring treatment, in intensive care and mechanical breathing (Smereka and Szarpak, 2020). The number of patients requiring hospitalization and critical care assistance has rapidly increased (Dargaville et al, 2020; Tuite et al, 2021). Healthcare professionals are confronting a large volume of seriously sick patients requiring advanced lifesustaining treatments in intensive care units (ICUs) (Akgün et al, 2020). Increased workload and life-threatening situations that medical personnel face during the COVID-19 pandemic have engendered psychological stress leading to mental illness (Lu et al, 2020)
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