Problems and Overcoming Methods of Emergency Medicine Specialists Working at Border Points

Emergency medicine specialists working in the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health public hospitals are assigned voluntarily or compulsorily along the Turkey-Syria borderline due to the operational conditions. In accordance with this study's purpose, methods and overcoming problems of emergency medical specialists working at border points are addressed.

The case study design is used as a qualitative research method in this research. Within the context of content analysis, 2 themes and 7 subthemes are created in line with the identified subproblems. Under these themes, the problems experienced by physicians, solutions to them, and recommendations for physicians who will start to work along the borderline are presented with codes and anecdotes.

The results of the study indicate that the problems experienced by physicians working in the border regions are centred on environmental conditions, operation of the system, and security issues. The methods for coping with such problems focus on effective communication and the support of colleagues. The basic suggestion of the participating physicians to improve the system is that the emergency medical specialists who run the border service should undergo training that can be useful for adapting to war conditions. Despite experiencing personal and familial challenges, these physicians express that they feel happy and at peace in their work.

For the physicians assigned to work along the borderlines, high efficiency can be obtained if they are given preassignment training and provided with effective personal communication combined with personal rights adjustment.