Tendency to leave the profession in operating room staffs during the COVID -۱۹ epidemic: the role of anxiety

Introduction: Because of the COVID-۱۹ pandemic and ۲۴-hour engagement of medical staff who working in operating rooms, they are also at high risk of exposure to the virus. The desire to leave work can be a side effect of physical and mental pressure in operating room staff.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine tendency to leave the profession in operating room staffs during the COVID -۱۹ epidemic and the role of anxiety.Method:This cross-sectional correlational study was performed in ۲۰۲۱. The study samples included the personnel of all operating room units of Rasht teaching hospitals. Then, ۲۷۰ staff members of operating rooms in six teaching hospitals included in the study by using the census method. The tool used consists of three parts including: The demographic information questionnaires, the standard and psychometric instruments in Iranian samples named the COVID-۱۹ Anxiety Scale (CDAS) which has been developed in Iran and the third part of the questionnaire were the tendency to leave the service, which was a ۴-question questionnaire in the Likert–scale. Data were collected online and analyzed using descriptive statistics and statistical tests Like: Kolmogorov-Smirnov to determine the normal distribution, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman and linear regression. Result: The results of this study showed that the majority of the samples were female employees (۸۰.۸%), married (۶۲.۳%), with a bachelor's degree (۸۸.۹%). According to the results, the mean scores of anxieties in the samples was ۱۱.۷۴ ± ۸.۲۰ out of a maximum score of ۵۴ and ۳۶.۳% of the samples had higher scores than anxiety mean. Also, The Results of the tendency to leave the service showed that the mean scores of samples were ۹.۴۷ ± ۴.۱۲ out of a maximum score of ۲۰, and ۳۸.۵% of them tended to leave the service. The scores of anxiety had a significantly different according to the history of Covid-۱۹ in close relatives (P=۰.۰۱), having underlying diseases (P=۰.۰۰۱), and Type of task in operating room (P=۰.۰۲) and sex (P<۰.۰۵۶). There was a significant difference in the score of tendency to leave the service in terms of marital status variables (p = ۰.۰۰۷) and Life conditions (P<۰.۰۵۲). The Spearman test showed there is no statistically significant relationship between the two variables (anxiety and leaving the service). According to the results sex, Marital status, living conditions, years of work experience, years of experience in Operating room were entered in regression model and none of them had a significant relationship with the tendency to leave the service( R۲=۰.۰۲۳ ) Conclusion: According to the results of this study, despite performing both vaccinations in people, many of them were still anxious. And some of them also want to leave their service. Hence, further studies are suggested with a larger number of samples in the operating room staff community, due to the lack of a significant relationship between these two variables in the present study