Karki Parag, Budhathoki Lee, Khadka Manoj, Maharjan Swojay, Dhakal Subodh, Pokharel Subashchandra, Poudel Anita, Rokaya Pooja, Raut Udit, Rayamajhi Sushma
Department of Internal Medicine, Shree Birendra Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences, 44600, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2021 Dec;72:103056. doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.103056. Epub 2021 Nov 18.
Medical students, being more familiar with medical situations, can play a vital role as volunteers during medical crises like mass casualty emergencies and epidemics. This study was conducted to know the willingness of medical and nursing students to volunteer during the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic.
This cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical and nursing students of a medical college in Kathmandu. A proportionate stratified random sampling technique was used. A pretested, self-administered questionnaire was emailed to participants and the data were collected from 8th July to July 29, 2021 via the Google forms, extracted to the Google sheets, and then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.
Out of 288 randomly selected participants, a total of 261 valid responses were obtained, giving a response rate of 90.6%. The majority (n = 203, 77.8%) of the participants were willing to volunteer. The most preferred area of work during volunteering was clinical care of the COVID-19 patients (n = 74, 36.5%), followed by involvement in health education and awareness-raising activities (n = 63, 31%). Among those not willing to volunteer (n = 58, 22.2%), the most commonly reported reason was the lack of adequate training and skills (n = 23, 40%).
Since the majority of medical and nursing students were willing to volunteer during the times of COVID-19, they can be of great help as a human resource in case of shortage of healthcare professionals. As lack of training and adequate skills was the main reason for those not willing to volunteer, we recommend the provision of adequate training and skills before deploying students as volunteers during health crises like COVID-19.
医学生对医疗情况更为熟悉，在大规模伤亡紧急情况和流行病等医疗危机期间，他们作为志愿者可以发挥至关重要的作用。本研究旨在了解医学和护理专业学生在2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间志愿工作的意愿。
本横断面研究在加德满都一所医学院的本科医学和护理专业学生中进行。采用了按比例分层随机抽样技术。一份经过预测试的自填式问卷通过电子邮件发送给参与者，数据于2021年7月8日至7月29日通过谷歌表单收集，提取到谷歌表格中，然后使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）16版进行分析。
在288名随机挑选的参与者中，共获得261份有效回复，回复率为90.6%。大多数参与者（n = 203，77.8%）愿意做志愿者。志愿工作中最受欢迎的工作领域是COVID-19患者的临床护理（n = 74，36.5%），其次是参与健康教育和提高认识活动（n = 63，31%）。在那些不愿意做志愿者的人（n = 58，22.2%）中，最常报告的原因是缺乏足够的培训和技能（n = 23，40%）。
由于大多数医学和护理专业学生在COVID-19期间愿意做志愿者，在医疗保健专业人员短缺的情况下，他们作为人力资源可以提供很大帮助。由于缺乏培训和足够的技能是那些不愿意做志愿者的主要原因，我们建议在像COVID-19这样的健康危机期间将学生作为志愿者部署之前，提供足够的培训和技能。
