Abstract
35 Prevalence and Predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among Emergency Physicians in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2021.07.036Get rights and content

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Study Objectives

Our study aims to identify the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among emergency physicians in the United States following the COVID-19 pandemic, and explore related factors and predictors of PTSD symptoms.

Methods

Study participants included board-certified & board-eligible emergency physicians’ residents, and non-emergency physicians working in an EM setting, who were practicing in the US. Convenience sampling recruitment via multiple national EM listservs was used to complete an anonymous, online self-report survey from September 2020 to April 2021. Research data was stored on Qualtrics, a secure, password-protected multi-user database with access granted to the study team only. Surveys included

Results

Our sample included 315 total complete surveys of the 362 initiated surveys. PSS-I-5 scores ranged from 0-67 (IQR 4-27, median=13, mean=17.2). The majority of participants are age 35-50 (45.7%), EM board-certified (69.5%), white (86.4%), practice at urban level 1 trauma centers (44.8%), and do not have previous PTSD (91.8%) or other mental health diagnoses (73.3%). More than half (55.9%) of the respondents self-identified as having experienced trauma based on the DSM-5 criteria. PSS-I-5 scores

Conclusion

The prevalence of PTSD symptoms among our sample following the COVID-19 pandemic is 92.1%, with higher PSS-I-5 scores generally reported later in the pandemic. Race, age, and practice setting all appear to be associated with more severe PTSD symptoms. More research is needed to describe and reduce the burden of PTSD among those on the COVID front lines in the ED.

Figure 1. Frequency histogram of PSS scores

Figure 2. PSS mean (circle) and median (star) scores per month of survey end date

Table 1.

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