Objective: This study aims to explore factors associated with the intention to work of hospital workers in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea. Methods: An online self-reported survey was conducted in a tertiary hospital. Respondents were asked to report their perceived threat, perceived risk of infection, evaluation of hospital response, demographics, and job-related factors. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analyses were performed. Results: A total of 441 employees participated in this study. Of respondents, 60% were willing to accept their work during an infectious disease outbreak and 12.5% were unwilling to accept the work. In addition, 8% of respondents reported that they had considered quitting their job, 54.4% reported their job was dangerous, and 50.1% of respondents perceived the severity of COVID-19 as high. Perceived threat and effectiveness of hospital response were associated with hospital employees’ intention to work. Conclusions: Hospital workers are at the front line of the COVID-19 outbreak. This study highlighted hospital workers’ perceived effectiveness of organizational response to the outbreak, and perceived threats were found to be important factors for whether they continue to work or not in the fight against the outbreak.

Background To evaluate the current status of emotional exhaustion and peritraumatic distress of healthcare workers (HCWs) in the COVID-19 pandemic, and identify factors associated with their mental health status. Methods An online survey involving 1068 of consented HCWs that included nurses, physicians, and public health officers was conducted in May 2020. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analyses were performed on the collected data. Results Although no significant difference in peritraumatic distress was observed among the surveyed HCWs, the workers’ experience of emotional exhaustion varied according to work characteristics. Respondents who were female, older, living with a spouse, and/or full-time workers reported higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Public health officers and other medical personnel who did not have direct contact with confirmed patients and full-time workers had a higher level of peritraumatic distress. Forced involvement in work related to COVID-19, worry about stigma, worry about becoming infected, and perceived sufficiency of organizational support negatively predict emotional exhaustion and peritraumatic distress. Conclusions Job-related and emotional stress of HCWs should not be neglected. Evidence-based interventions and supports are required to protect HCWs from mental illness and to promote mental health of those involved in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ImportanceDexmedetomidine is a widely used sedative in the intensive care unit (ICU) and has unique properties that may be associated with reduced occurrence of new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF).ObjectiveTo investigate whether the use of dexmedetomidine is associated with the incidence of NOAF in patients with critical illness.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis propensity score–matched cohort study was conducted using the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care-IV database, which includes records of patients admitted to the ICU at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston dating 2008 through 2019. Included patients were those aged 18 years or older and hospitalized in the ICU. Data were analyzed from March through May 2022.ExposurePatients were divided into 2 groups according to dexmedetomidine exposure: those who received dexmedetomidine within 48 hours after ICU admission (dexmedetomidine group) and those who never received dexmedetomidine (no dexmedetomidine group).Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe primary outcome was the occurrence of NOAF within 7 days of ICU admission, as defined by the nurse-recorded rhythm status. Secondary outcomes were ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, and in-hospital mortality.ResultsThis study included 22 237 patients before matching (mean [SD] age, 65.9 [16.7] years; 12 350 male patients [55.5%]). After 1:3 propensity score matching, the cohort included 8015 patients (mean [SD] age, 61.0 [17.1] years; 5240 males [65.4%]), among whom 2106 and 5909 patients were in the dexmedetomidine and no dexmedetomidine groups, respectively. Use of dexmedetomidine was associated with a decreased risk of NOAF (371 patients [17.6%] vs 1323 patients [22.4%]; hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.71-0.90). Although patients in the dexmedetomidine group had longer median (IQR) length of stays in the ICU (4.0 [2.7-6.9] days vs 3.5 [2.5-5.9] days; P < .001) and hospital (10.0 [6.6-16.3] days vs 8.8 [5.9-14.0] days; P < .001), dexmedetomidine was associated with decreased risk of in-hospital mortality (132 deaths [6.3%] vs 758 deaths [12.8%]; hazard ratio, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.36-0.52).Conclusions and RelevanceThis study found that dexmedetomidine was associated with decreased risk of NOAF in patients with critical illness, suggesting that it may be necessary and warranted to evaluate this association in future clinical trials.

Background: Although obesity is a well-known risk factor of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), there is scant data on discriminating the contribution of previous obesity and recent weight gain on developing T2DM. Methods: We analyzed the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort data from 2002 to 2015 where Korean residents underwent biennial health checkups. Participants were classified into four groups according to their obesity status (body mass index [BMI] ≥25 kg/m 2 ) before and after turning 50 years old: maintaining normal (MN), becoming obese (BO), becoming normal (BN), and maintaining obese (MO). Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the risk of T2DM factoring in the covariates age, sex, BMI, presence of impaired fasting glucose or hypertension, family history of diabetes, and smoking status. Results: A total of 118,438 participants (mean age, 52.5±1.1 years; men, 45.2%) were prospectively evaluated for incident T2DM. A total of 7,339 (6.2%) participants were diagnosed with T2DM during a follow-up period of 4.8±2.6 years. Incidence rates of T2DM per 1,000 person-year were 9.20 in MN, 14.81 in BO, 14.42 in BN, 21.38 in MO. After factoring in covariates, participants in the groups BN (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04 to 1.27) and MO (aHR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.24) were at increased risk of developing T2DM compared to MN, whereas BO (hazard ratio, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.17) was not. Conclusion:Having been obese before 50 years old increased the risk of developing T2DM in the future, but becoming obese after 50 did not. Therefore, it is important to maintain normal weight from early adulthood to prevent future metabolic perturbations.

Purpose: Few studies on bedside rounds have focused on the principles of patient-centered communication (PCC). This study pursued three objectives. First, we investigated the verbal contents of bedside rounds from the PCC perspective. Next, we analyzed inpatient surveys concerning patients’ experience of and perspective regarding bedside rounds. Finally, we identified which factors affect patient satisfaction levels.Methods: To evaluate doctor-patient communication, the contents of bedside rounds from 151 patients (88 in medical wards and 63 in surgical wards) were analyzed using the Roter Interaction Analysis System. An inpatient survey was also conducted to obtain further information about patient experience.Results: The average duration of bedside rounds was 71.3 seconds. The distribution of conversations between doctors and patients was significantly different, with doctors accounting for 62% and patients for 38% of the total (<i>p</i><.001). Both doctors (44.7%) and patients (40.5%) considered provision of biomedical information as the most important aspect of communication. On the other hand, the proportion of psychological-social communication was relatively low in both groups, at 2.3% and 4.2%, respectively. In the inpatient survey, 40.8% of respondents reported being uninformed about the ward round in advance, while 44.7% stated that the rounds did not take place at the pre-informed time. While 66.7% of participants felt that the interaction during rounds was sufficient, those who felt that they had insufficient round time were the least satisfied. There was a positive correlation between sufficiency of the bedside round duration and overall satisfaction with bedside round (<i>p</i><.01).Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that neither the verbal contents of the bedside rounds nor the overall patient satisfaction adequately meet the conditions for patient centeredness.

Background: Previous studies revealed weight gain is an independent risk factor for hypertension. Hypertension in late middle age increases the risks of dementia and cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to analyze the difference in the risk of hypertension in the late middle age according to the change of body mass index (BMI) using nationwide cohort data of South Korea.Methods: We used 64,136 individuals from National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort in South Korea. The primary endpoint is newly diagnosed hypertension after observation start date, which was defined as the date of first examination after 50. BMI changes were measured between two consecutive health examinations before and after 50. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between the change of BMI and the risk of hypertension.Results: During the mean follow-up period of 3.4±1.9 years, 8,676 individuals were diagnosed with hypertension. Both normal-to-obese group and obese-to-obese group had 19% higher risk for hypertension, and obese-to normal group had 10% higher risk for hypertension in late middle age, compared to normal-to-normal group.Conclusions: We confirmed becoming obese and maintaining obese increase the risk of hypertension in late middle age. Thus, clinicians need to assess obese patients regularly for the possibility of new onset hypertension and take preventive measure to reduce the risk by losing weights before late middle age.