Frisch Stacey, Jones Sarah, Willis James, Sinert Richard
Department of Emergency Medicine SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Brooklyn, NY United States.
Department of Emergency Medicine Jackson Health System Miami, FL United States.
JMIRx Med. 2022 Jan 27;3(1):e29539. doi: 10.2196/29539. eCollection 2022 Jan-Mar.
COVID-19, an illness caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, affected many aspects of health care worldwide in 2020. From March to May 2020, New York City experienced a large surge of cases.
The aim of this study is to characterize the prevalence of illness and symptoms experienced by residents and fellows in 2 New York City hospitals during the period of March to May 2020.
An institutional review board-exempt survey was distributed to emergency medicine housestaff in May 2020, and submissions were accepted through August 2020.
Out of 104 residents and fellows, 64 responded to our survey (a 61.5% response rate). Out of 64 responders, 27 (42%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Most residents experienced symptoms that are consistent with COVID-19; however, few received polymerase chain reaction testing. Out of 27 housestaff with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, 18 (67%) experienced fever and chills, compared with 8 out of 34 housestaff (24%) without SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Of the 27 housestaff with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, 19 (70%) experienced loss of taste and smell, compared with 2 out of 34 housestaff (6%) without SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. Both fever and chills and loss of taste and smell were significantly more commonly experienced by antibody-positive compared to antibody-negative housestaff (=.002 and <.001, respectively). All 13 housestaff who reported no symptoms during the study period tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
Our study demonstrated that in our hospitals, the rate of COVID-19 illness among emergency department housestaff was much higher than previously reported. Further studies are needed to characterize illness among medical staff in emergency departments across the nation. The high infection rate among emergency medicine trainees stresses the importance of supplying adequate personal protective equipment for health care professionals.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）是由新型冠状病毒SARS-CoV-2引起的疾病，在2020年影响了全球医疗保健的许多方面。2020年3月至5月，纽约市病例大幅激增。
本研究的目的是描述2020年3月至5月期间纽约市两家医院住院医师和研究员的患病情况及症状。
2020年5月向急诊医学住院医师发放了一项免于机构审查委员会审查的调查问卷，并于2020年8月前接受提交的问卷。
在104名住院医师和研究员中，64人回复了我们的调查（回复率为61.5%）。在64名回复者中，27人（42%）SARS-CoV-2抗体检测呈阳性。大多数住院医师出现了与COVID-19一致的症状；然而，很少有人接受聚合酶链反应检测。在27名有SARS-CoV-2抗体的住院医师中，18人（67%）出现发热和寒战，而在34名没有SARS-CoV-2抗体的住院医师中有8人（24%）出现发热和寒战。在27名有SARS-CoV-2抗体的住院医师中，19人（70%）出现味觉和嗅觉丧失，而在34名没有SARS-CoV-2抗体的住院医师中有2人（6%）出现味觉和嗅觉丧失。与抗体阴性的住院医师相比，抗体阳性的住院医师出现发热和寒战以及味觉和嗅觉丧失的情况明显更为常见（分别为P=0.002和P<0.001）。在研究期间报告无任何症状的所有13名住院医师SARS-CoV-2抗体检测均为阴性。
我们的研究表明，在我们的医院中，急诊科住院医师的COVID-19患病率远高于此前报告的水平。需要进一步开展研究以描述全国急诊科医务人员的患病情况。急诊医学实习生的高感染率凸显了为医护人员提供充足个人防护装备的重要性。
