Experience of Medical Personnel Dispatched to Isolated Psychiatric Institution in South Korea During COVID-19: Content Analysis.

Objectives: This study investigates problems related to medical response, and the support system among medical personnel dispatched to the psychiatric hospital when the first cluster of infections occurred in a psychiatric hospital in South Korea.

Methods: Contents analysis was conducted for the responses of the medical personnel who responded to the interview. Training about basic quarantine rules, and safety management is not provided in the early dispatch stages.

Results: No guidance is available regarding the human rights protection of medical staff. Additionally, no on-site situation-control tower is available. Participants reported that temporary quarantine measures implemented at Hospital D to restrict the movement of patients and medical staff from the external world are problematic. The most significant problem is the insufficient governmental systemic support and consideration for protecting Both the human rights of psychiatric patients and the human rights of the medical staff who care for them.

Conclusions: Future responses to new infectious diseases should include the establishment of a continuous support system in the community by changing the collective and closed-room environments as well as isolation-centered mental healthcare systems to protect the human rights of patients with mental disorders. Additionally, response drills for people with mental illness in closed environments should be practiced in response to emerging infectious diseases at ordinary times. Finally, training and emergency measures for medical staff dispatched to these facilities and a manual for the protection of the human rights of medical staff should be prepared.