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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021
| Contributor Information
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
With most states struggling to flatten the curve of infection rates, physicians continue to put their physical and mental health at risk to treat those with COVID-19. As of January 4, 2021, the nation had reached more than 351,590 deaths from COVID-19.
In our COVID-19 experience survey, emergency medicine (EM) physicians, among the more than 5000 US physicians who responded, told Medscape about their struggles to save patients while often dealing with increased personal risk, loneliness, loss of income, and a changed ability to practice medicine as they wish.
(Note: Some totals in this presentation do not equal 100% due to rounding.The data for this report, except where noted, were collected June 9 to July 20, 2020, and reflect physician experiences at that time.)
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
The vast majority of EM physicians (96%) have personally treated patients with COVID-19. Among all US physicians, EM physicians are most likely to treat patients with COVID-19 in person (94%). Owing to the pulmonary effects of COVID-19, pulmonologists are also heavily involved. Among family physicians, 58% are treating patients with COVID-19 in person and 45% are treating via telemedicine. For internists, those figures are 69% and 36%, respectively. (Respondents could choose more than one answer.)
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020; by January 4, 2021, a total of 20,640,212 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in the United States. Nearly all EM physicians who reported having treated patients with COVID-19 said they did so when the pandemic began. Among all US physicians who treated patients with COVID-19, about three quarters (73%) did so at the start.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Whereas about 7 in 10 EM physicians who saw patients with COVID-19 in person never or rarely treated them without the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), a noteworthy proportion either sometimes, often, or always lacked appropriate PPE.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
The majority of EM physicians who treated patients with COVID-19 have taken personal safety risks to treat an emergency related to the disease. Thirty percent of US physicians overall reported having taken such risks.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
As is the case for US physicians overall (95%), the vast majority of EM physicians have not been diagnosed with COVID-19.
As of December 7, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 254,581 cases of COVID-19 among healthcare personnel (essential workers at risk for exposure to patients or infectious materials); 875 of those workers died.However, some media outlets and industry groups dispute the governmental data. National Nurses United, the largest union in the United States for registered nurses, estimated more than 1700 COVID-19 deaths among healthcare workers as of mid-September, as reported by Medscape.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Among the 14% of EM physicians who experienced the loss of a healthcare professional colleague to COVID-19, the median number lost was two. In addition to the personal stress that EM physicians face at work, many have also had to cope with the sadness and grief of losing beloved family members to the virus.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Among EM physicians who reported experiencing job-related burnout (79%), nearly three quarters said their burnout has become more intense during the COVID crisis. A slightly lesser percentage of US physicians overall (73%) said they felt burned out; about two thirds of those said their burnout worsened during COVID.
In the Medscape Emergency Medicine Lifestyle, Happiness & Burnout Report 2020, which covers data obtained before the COVID-19 outbreak, EM physician respondents said the growing number of bureaucratic tasks, including charting and paperwork, was the leading factor in their burnout. Most EM physicians (87%) say their workplace has not made changes to reduce paperwork/administrative tasks to allow more focus on the pandemic.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
The percentage of EM physicians who reported that their workplace has offered activities to help with grief and stress (42%) is similar to that who said their workplace has not (39%). Close to one fifth are not sure. These are nearly identical to the percentages reported by US physicians overall (43%, 39%, and 18%, respectively).
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Because humans are social animals, distancing and restricting social activities have had a profound impact on people's mental states. Close to half of US physicians overall (46%) said stay-at-home and/or social distancing orders have made them feel lonelier, and an even greater percentage of EM physicians (55%) reported this experience.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Two thirds of EM physicians experienced a decrease in income since the start of the pandemic. Most of those (71%) saw their income decline by 11%-50%; 11% saw a decrease of more than 50%. Ophthalmologists (51%), allergists (46%), plastic surgeons (46%), and otolaryngologists (45%) are among the US specialists most likely to report a decrease of more than 50%.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Along with increased uncertainty over employment and physical and mental health, COVID-19 has caused widespread financial insecurity. To prepare for future uncertain times, EM physicians are now most likely to scale back on their expenses and to save more money. Those younger than 45 years (71%) are more likely than their older peers (49%) to prepare by saving more money. (Respondents could choose more than one answer.)
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
About one third of EM physicians who treated patients with COVID-19 reported that their workplace went beyond its capacity to do so at some point. Closer to one quarter (24%) of all US physicians who treated patients with COVID-19 said their workplace had that problem.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Most EM physicians (87%) treating patients with COVID-19 in person did not have to make decisions about giving them priority for treatment, such as with ventilators or pharmaceuticals, over patients with other life-threatening diseases. This is the same percentage reported by US physicians overall who treated patients with COVID-19 in person.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Just over half of EM physicians said they can have contact with family members of patients with COVID-19 in an appropriate way. Close to one third reported that their ability to have appropriate contact depends on various factors.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
About two thirds of EM physicians feel that COVID-19 has hampered their ability to be as good a doctor as they would like. Fourteen percent said the crisis has not hindered their ability at all.
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
By summertime, because of concerns about COVID-19, a large percentage of adults had delayed or avoided medical care, including urgent or emergency care and routine care.
As a result, 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. EM physicians younger than 45 years are more likely than their 45-and-older peers to report that they are now seeing patients with non-COVID diseases (88% vs 78%, respectively).
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
US physicians overall are equally split on whether they feel it's their obligation to volunteer to treat patients with COVID-19; EM physicians responded nearly the same way.
Among respondents not in a role directly treating patients with COVID-19 when the pandemic began, US office-based physicians (69%) are more likely to have volunteered than hospital-based physicians (39%), whereas hospital-based physicians (61%) are more likely to have been assigned than office-based physicians (31%).
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
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Medscape Emergency Medicine Physicians' COVID-19 Experience Report
Leslie Kane, MA; Mary Lyn Koval | January 11, 2021 | Contributor Information
Medscape Physician Ethics Report 2020: Life, Death, and Painful Dilemmas
Medscape looked at how physician ethics have changed in the past decade. More than 5000 physicians told us how they feel about the critical issues they have to deal with and the choices they make.Medscape Features Slideshow, Nov 2020
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Comments on Medscape are moderated and should be professional in tone and on topic. You must declare any conflicts of interest related to your comments and responses. Please see our Commenting Guide for further information. We reserve the right to remove posts at our sole discretion.
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Contributor Information
Leslie Kane, MA
Senior Director, Medscape Business of Medicine
Mary Lyn Koval
Editorial consultant
Disclosure: Mary Lyn Koval has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
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