ESSAY

Factors of Death of Medical Personnel

Galang Hashfiansyah

131611133051

UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA

FAKULTAS KEPERAWATAN

S1-KEPERAWATAN

JULI, 2020
Field : Health and Medicine

Topic : Death of Doctors, Nurses, and Health Practitioners due to COVID-

19: Causes and Prevention

Factors of Death of Medical Personnel

The COVID-19 pandemic is considered a situation that can exert great

health pressure for the lives of struggling medical personnel. Data on the death
rate of Indonesian health workers due to COVID-19 reached 6.5% (Department of
Hospital Management, Hasanuddin University). This means that every 100 deaths
there are about six to seven medical workers who die. Factors that can cause high
mortality rates for medical workers in Indonesia are high workloads, limited
supply of personal protective equipment, lack of personal protective equipment
management, and decreased mental health.

The workload of medical personnel is high during a pandemic. Workload

is a number of work targets or results that must be achieved in a unit of time (Kep.
Menpan no.75 / 2004). The high workload is caused by the surge in the number of
patients infected with COVID-19 which is increasing every day and is still
treating patients with diseases other than COVID-19. The workload of medical
personnel has a broad impact, so it must be a concern for hospitals, and can cause
lack of or poor communication to patients, quality of care, and threaten the
physical health of medical personnel themselves.

Limited supply of personal protective equipment throughout hospitals in

Indonesia. Personal protective equipment is designed as a barrier to all
penetration, namely solid, liquid, or air particles to protect individuals from
disease transmission or injury. Transmission of COVID-19 can occur through
close contact and droplets, unless there is a medical action that triggers an aerosol,
causing transmission of COVID-19 through the airbone. The types of personal
protective equipment recommended for handling COVID-19 cases are surgical
mask, N95 respirators, face shields, goggles, gowns, heavy duty aprons, gloves,
headgear, and waterproof boots (Susanti, 2020).

Poor use of personal protective equipment. Personal protective equipment

used by medical personnel should only be used once and thrown away. The
supply of personal protective equipment is very limited, so PPE can be reused
after proper cleaning, kidnapping, disinfection, and storage processes. For
example reuseable gowns, coveralls, aprons, surgical hoods can be reused after
washing at a temperature of 57.2-71 ° C for at least 25 minutes, and the
disinfectant used is chlorine with a concentration of 1:99. N95 respirators can be
reused after storing or sterilizing. Eye protection and the inner face are cleaned by
using a clean cloth that has been dipped in detergent, then the outside is cleaned
with chlorine and clean water / alcohol to remove residues. If management of
inappropriate use of personal protective equipment can be fatal for medical staff
who are on duty handling COVID-19 patients, therefore management of proper
use of personal protective equipment is needed.

Decreased mental health is a psychological reaction characterized by mood

disorders, disruption of thinking ability, which ultimately leads to forms of
behavior less adaptive (Kemenkes RI, 2018). Mental health problems namely
anxiety, stress, and depression that can be the cause of an illness (Peristianto &
Adellia, 2020). These problems can occur in any individual, especially in medical
personnel who are treating patients with early symptoms of COVID-19 in a
pandemic situation. Public support for medical personnel in an effort to complete
their task of handling patients in a pandemic situation greatly affects their
psychological condition. When people are not sure of their ability to continue
working in a pandemic situation, a variety of conditions arise for medical workers,
such as anxiety, stress, panic, and worry. Therefore, negative community stigma
on medical personnel needs to be improved because with the negative community
stigma, medical staff become anxious, stressed, panicked and full of worry.
Making the initial negative community stigma into a positive stigma by providing
public education, not only medical staff who provide education but from those
closest to them can also provide education so that people always believe, believe,
and always support medical workers struggling to cure COVID-19 patients . The
support from the community of medical doctors, nurses, and other medical
personnel who participate in handling COVID-19 patients can be more confident
and confident in treating COVID-19 patients. The belief and confidence of
medical doctors, nurses and other medical personnel who participate in handling
COVID-19, it is more effective and maximum care for patients with COVID-19
with the maximum in handling patients with COVID-19, the patient is also in a
psychological condition both because of doctors, nurses and other medical
personnel also provide maximum support for patients suffering from COVID-19.

Educating the public is not only face-to-face but can be online or online,
such as zooming, through posters, especially on social media because the
community is now more active in social media, so from there it can also be one of
the strategies in grieving the public to be more aware of the community. Not only
educating but also reminding people closest to always remember to live clean,
healthy and always wear a mask when leaving the house. The existence of online
education also reduces transmission of the COVID-19 virus and participates in
helping medical personnel in educating and preventing transmission of the
COVID-19 virus.

References

Peristianto, S. V., & Adellia, R. 2020. LOCUS OF CONTROL DAN

PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL BEING PADA TENAGA MEDIS YANG
BERESIKO TERPAPAR COVID-19 PADA MASA PANDEMI. COVID-19
DALAM RAGAM TINJAUAN PERSPEKTIF, 109.

Respati, T., & Rathomi, H. S.(2020). Bunga Rampai Artikel Penyakit Virus
Korona (COVID-19). Bandung: P2U Unisba