Abstract
BACKGROUND: The risk to physicians who worked with patients without confirmed COVID-19 testing during the pandemic has been little studied. However, they were at high risk. METHODS: In the summer of 2020, 1285 Romanian physicians participated in a single-center study. Participants (mean age = 48.21 years; 302 males and 982 females, all specialties) completed a series of single-item measures adapted from previous studies on work ethics and responsibility. This study used Mann-Whitney comparisons between physicians who reported that they knowingly had direct contact with COVID patients and those who did not regarding their willingness to work. RESULTS: Compared with their colleagues, physicians who reported not knowingly having direct contact with COVID patients reported less access to protective equipment, less overall willingness to respond when asked to work with infected patients, more likely to work out of fear of losing their jobs, and fear of legal repercussions. They received less training in the use of protective equipment. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians who worked with patients not yet diagnosed with COVID-19 were significantly less willing to work. The perception of invisible risk may explain the observed differences.