Objectives: To gather information on the contracting and training of members of the Catalan Society of Emergency Medicine (SoCMUE) who work in emergency medicine and services in Catalonia. To survey their opinions on certain aspects of resource availability and working conditions.
Material and methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study based on a survey sent to SoCMUE members. We studied the opinions of 5 types of respondent: hospital physicians, out-of-hospital physicians, hospital nurses, out-of-hospital nurses, and emergency medical technicians. Responses were grouped to compare the opinions of physicians and nurses and workers in hospital and prehospital settings.
Results: We received 616 responses from 1273 members (48.4% response rate). More physicians than nurses come from outside Catalonia and have contracts specifically linked to emergency care; in addition, physicians have done less postgraduate training in emergency medicine. More hospital staff than prehospital staff have permanent contracts linked to the department where they work. More hospital physicians are specialized in internal medicine than in family and community medicine. The opinion that emergency services are inadequately staffed was widespread. Most respondents believed that patient transport is good or adequate. However, respondents working in prehospital services expressed a lower opinion of transport. Great difficulty in combining work with family (life achieving work-life balance) was expressed by 13.5% overall, and more often by hospital staff. Some type of aggression was experienced by 88.2%; 60% reported the event to superiors. Nurses reported aggression more often than physicians. A police report was filed by 10.1%.
Conclusion: Emergency medicine working conditions can be improved in Catalonia according to members of SoCMUE. Relations between groups of professionals are not optimum in some aspects.
Objetivo: Investigar las condiciones contractuales y formativas de los socios de la Societat Catalana de Medicina d’Urgències i Emergéncies (SoCMUE) que trabajan en el ámbito de la Medicina de Urgencias y Emergencias (MUE) en Cataluña, y su percepción acerca de algunos recursos disponibles y aspectos de su práctica laboral.
Metodo: Estudio descriptivo transversal mediante encuesta enviada a los socios de SoCMUE. Se distinguieron médicos hospitalarios y extrahospitalarios, enfermeros hospitalarios y extrahospitalarios, y técnicos en emergencia sanitaria (TES). Se realizaron agrupaciones de médico/enfermero y hospitalario/extrahospitalario.
Resultados: Respondieron 616 de 1.273 socios (48,4%). Respecto a los enfermeros, los médicos tienen mayor porcentaje de profesionales no comunitarios, contratos más vinculados a urgencias/emergencias, y han realizado menos formación de postgrado en MUE. Los profesionales hospitalarios, respecto a los extrahospitalarios, tienen mayor proporción de contratos fijos y vinculados al propio servicio, han realizado menos formación de postgrado, y la proporción de especialistas en medicina interna es mayor y en medicina familiar y comunitaria menor. Existe la percepción generalizada de plantillas insuficientes. La transferencia de pacientes es considerada mayoritariamente buena o correcta, pero es peor percibida por extrahospitalaria. El 13,5% refiere una conciliación familiar imposible, más frecuentemente en el ámbito hospitalario. El 88,2% ha sufrido algún tipo de agresión, el 60% lo comunicó a sus superiores (enfermeros más que médicos) y el 10,1% lo denunció judicialmente.
Conclusiones: Para los socios de la SoCMUE, en la práctica de la MUE en Cataluña, existen algunas condiciones laborales mejorables y la relación entre colectivos de profesionales es poco óptima en algunos aspectos.
Keywords: Emergencias; Emergencies; Emergency medicine; Emergency health services; Encuesta; Health occupations: working conditions; Medicina de urgencias y emergencias; Opinión; Práctica profesional; Survey; Urgencias.