Factors Affecting Care Workers’ Coping Abilities in Emergencies to the Korean Elderly

Abstract

This study provides basic data for enhancing coping abilities in emergencies concerning direct long-term care (LTC) workers, which is necessary for providing safe care for elderly patients living in facilities and at home. A survey was conducted including 327 care workers who officially qualified as long-term providers for elderly patients through elderly care facilities and a domiciliary service center. The majority (91.4%) of the care workers surveyed experienced an emergency, but of them, only 36.4% performed first aid and 56.8% failed to perform first aid, for which the emergency was reported to nurses. The average score regarding first aid knowledge was 8.40 out of 21, and the mean scores for the subtopics of basic life support and general first aid were low (3.56 out of 7 and 5.84 out of 14, respectively). Nearly three-quarters (72.5%) responded that they were unaware of emergency coping methods, and the score for coping abilities in emergencies was also low (52.93 out of 100). The results indicate that factors affecting coping abilities in emergencies were related to the size of the workplace and first aid experience. We propose the development and implementation of an emergency coping training program focusing on case studies for direct LTC workers.