Many EM Docs Have Treated COVID Patients Without Proper PPE | Nutrition Fit

Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center.

Many emergency medicine (EM) physicians who responded to a Medscape survey said they have treated COVID-19 patients without appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

In the Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians’ COVID-19 Experience Report, 21% of respondents said that that was sometimes the case; 7% said that it was often the case; and 1% said they always treat patients without appropriate PPE.

EM physicians were the physicians most likely to treat COVID-19 patients in person.

Table 1. Top Specialties Treating COVID-19 Patients

Specialty	% Treating in person	% Treating virtually
Emergency medicine	94	12
Nephrology	89	26
Critical care	87	7
HIV/infectious disease	86	29
Pulmonary medicine	74	35

For comparison, among family medicine physicians, 58% said that they have treated COVID-19 patients in person, and 45% said they were treating them via telemedicine.

Data for the report were gathered from June 9 to July 20 as part of Medscape’s COVID-19 experience survey for all physicians. That survey drew more than 5000 responses.

Nearly all (98%) of EM physicians who have treated COVID-19 patients said that they have done so since the beginning, when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. For all US physicians, the percentage was much higher than that ― 73% said they had treated COVID-19 patients from the start.

EM physicians have often found themselves sacrificing their own safety for the sake of patients. More than half of EM physicians (54%) said that they had knowingly taken personal safety risks to treat a COVID-19 emergency, a percentage far higher than the 30% of all physicians who said they had done so.

Four percent of EM physicians have received a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 via testing. An additional 2% have been confirmed as having COVID on the basis of symptoms.

Steep Income Drops

Survey authors write that two thirds of EM physicians have experienced income loss during the pandemic. Most (71%) saw their income drop by between 11% and 50%; 11% saw a decrease of more than 50%. Among other specialties, the percentages of those who have experienced a drop of more than 50% are far higher. Among ophthalmologists, 51% said they had experienced such a drop; among allergists, 46%; plastic surgeons, 46%; and otolaryngologists, 45%.

Asked whether their burnout levels have increased in the wake of COVID-19, 74% of EM physicians said burnout had intensified; 23% reported no change; and 3% said burnout had lessened.

Reports of loneliness have been widespread during the pandemic, owing to stay-at-home orders and social distancing. More EM physicians than physicians in general said feelings of loneliness had increased for them in the past year.

More than half of EM doctors (55%) said they are experiencing more loneliness in the pandemic, compared with 46% of all physicians who felt that way; 42% said those feelings have not changed; and 3% said they have been less lonely.

Grief and Stress Relief

Fewer than half (42%) of the respondents reported that their workplace offers clinician activities to help with grief and stress; 39% said their workplace didn’t offer such help; and 19% said they were unsure.

The percentages were nearly identical to the percentages of physicians overall who answered whether their workplace offered help for grief and stress.

Along with insecurity regarding physical and mental health, COVID-19 has introduced more questions about financial health. Here’s a look at how emergency physicians said they would change the way they save and spend.

Table 2. How COVID-19 Will Change Finances for EM Physicians

Strategy for change	% Adopting
Scale back spending	65
Save more	56
Keep more cash on hand	40
Invest more conservatively	36
Other	3
No change	14

Challenges to Daily Practice

By the time this survey was taken, a large percentage of patients had delayed or avoided urgent or routine medical care for reasons related to COVID-19, so survey authors asked whether EM physicians’ patient population had changed.

Survey authors write that “most EM physicians (82%) are seeing patients with non-COVID diseases, such as cardiovascular problems or diabetes, who otherwise probably would have sought treatment earlier.”

COVID has also thrown a major obstacle into most EM physicians’ careers by preventing them from doing the job to the best of their ability. That loss is one of the three primary components of burnout.

More than two thirds (67%) said COVID-19 has hampered their ability to be as good a doctor as they would like.

Marcia Frellick is a freelance journalist based in Chicago. She has previously written for the Chicago Tribune and Nurse.com and was an editor at the Chicago Sun-Times, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times. Follow her on Twitter at @mfrellick.

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