Arafat: There is burnout among some doctors at UPU, which can be eliminated by having enough staff

The Head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, declared on Saturday in Alba Iulia that the most recent studies have shown the existence of a certain degree of burnout among some of the staff in emergency units, noting, however, that the situation is better than expected, Agerpres reports.

Asked if there are statistics at the DSU level regarding the burnout rate among emergency physicians, Raed Arafat replied that there are studies done on this aspect, but that he could not specify what the percentages would be.

"The latest studies showed a degree of burnout in a percentage of the staff. I don't have the percentages in my head, but you should know that the situation was much better than we expected it to be when the respective studies were done. The studies must be repeated, they must be taken into account," said the head of the DSU.

Raed Arafat specified that the measure by which this syndrome can be reduced or eliminated is "to have adequate personnel (in number - ed.), to reduce the pressure on people (UPU employees - ed. n)".

In another vein, asked if the emergency system in Romania could cope with a major crisis, such as an earthquake, the head of the DSU recalled that there was such a crisis, the coronavirus pandemic.

"We faced a pandemic, with our colleagues. Emergency rooms were some of the front lines of work and held the back of hospitals, especially when the intensive care units filled up. And they became a second intensive care unit in the hospital. So, the way the emergency rooms worked during the pandemic demonstrated that the system, as a way of thinking, as an integrated way of working, is the right way," said Raed Arafat.

The head of the DSU participated, on Saturday, at the inauguration of the new UPU section of the Alba Iulia County Emergency Hospital, expanded and equipped with high-performance equipment, through an investment of 2.5 million euros.