Publication date: Dec 03, 2025
Background/Objectives: A medical-government conflict in South Korea in 2024 led to the collective resignation of resident physicians, causing severe workforce shortages in tertiary hospitals. This study aimed to investigate temporal changes in stress, anxiety, and depression among healthcare workers during this conflict following the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data from 56,137 adults who completed validated questionnaires on stress (KNHANES), anxiety (Clinically Useful Anxiety Outcome Scale, CUXOS), and depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, CES-D) between January 2019 and February 2025 at Samsung Changwon Hospital. Temporal trends were assessed using linear mixed-effects models adjusted for demographic variables. Results: Among attending physicians, stress increased by 1. 44 points in the post-COVID period (p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Korea | anxiety |
| Pandemic | COVID-19 pandemic |
| Physicians | depression |
| Resignation | nurses |
| occupational stress | |
| physicians |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | anxiety |
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 pandemic |
| disease | MESH | CES |
| disease | MESH | occupational stress |