The psychological impact of the pandemic on those who work in the front line
A study was recently published that investigated the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of 1,257 Chinese health workers.
Can you perceive the fear of those who are in contact every day with a disease such as Covid-19 with high morbidity and potentially lethal, which is afraid of getting infected or infecting their loved ones? And the loneliness of those who decide, as a precaution, to isolate themselves so as not to put their partner, their children, their parents at risk? All this has repercussions on the mental health of health professionals.
It has been established for years that one of the job categories most at risk of burnout are the socio-health professions: doctors, nurses, OSS are more likely to develop psychological disorders due to the stress to which they are subjected daily. This, in addition to representing an important health problem for the worker himself, has repercussions on the quality of the activity carried out with negative consequences, even serious ones, on the patients in charge.
Now, try to imagine what it means to work in health care during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Those who choose a healthcare profession know that they will have to deal with the pain and suffering of patients and relatives, with feelings of helplessness and lack of control in the face of disease and death, with a large emotional load to manage. But he probably never would have thought one day that he would face an emergency of this magnitude.
Read also: Post free Question Online
Imagine the sense of vulnerability of general practitioners, overwhelmed by requests for help, in the front line to visit often without PPE available (eg masks, gloves ...). Think of the stress of the nurses, under pressure and to the extreme after 12 hours exhausting shifts; to the impotence of doctors without effective drugs to treat the infection; to the anguish of an anesthesiologist who may have to choose who to give priority to intensive care ( here clinical ethics recommendations for admission to intensive treatments and for their suspension in exceptional conditions of imbalance between needs and available resources).
Can you perceive the fear of those who are in contact every single day with a highly morbid and potentially lethal disease, which is afraid of getting infected or infecting their loved ones at the end of the day? And the loneliness of those who decide, as a precaution, to isolate themselves so as not to put their partner, their children, their parents at risk?
Can you experience the excruciating anxiety and bewilderment of those who find themselves working in a department not their own? Or the sense of inadequacy of a novice graduate recruited for the emergency?
And you hear them the suspicious looks of neighbors who fear having the greaser next to them?
All these factors have repercussions, even heavy ones, on the mental health of the operators. Which?
A study titled Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019 was published on March 23, 2020 , which investigated the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on 1,257 Chinese health workers.
The participants were divided into "first-line operators" (in contact with patients with high fever or COVID-19 diagnosis) and "second-line operators".
Popup-Coronavirus-singleThe questionnaires administered (PHQ-9, GAD-7, ISI and IES-R) revealed the presence of depressive symptoms (50.4% of the subjects), anxiety (44.6%), insomnia (34.0%) and stress (71.5%). Nurses, women, Wuhan health workers and frontline operators are the subjects who reported the most severe symptoms in all assessments. In particular, being a frontline healthcare professional represents an important risk factor for the development of serious psychological symptoms, so much so as to suggest paying particular attention to mental health in this category.
Certainly the study has several methodological limits including the short duration (6 days), the lack of follow-up, the nature of the sample (mainly made up of subjects from Wuhan) and the absence of a control group. However, given the greater risk of burnout of the health care professions, it seems plausible to affirm the absolute need to immediately provide psychological support for all health professionals involved in the front line in the fight against the pandemic, which will accompany them also in the post-emergency . The goal must be not only the prevention and treatment of depression, anxiety, insomnia and stress, but also, as suggested.
In fact, it is necessary to avoid adding to the medical emergency a psychological emergency which would further undermine a system that cannot afford to be collapsed by those who are in the front line.
Although anyone, in this period of emergency, can continue to access psychological support paths despite the closure of their studies thanks to Post free Solution Online and telephone psychology and psychotherapy services activated not only by private psychologists and psychotherapists, but also by schools of psychotherapy and centers clinical as for example the network of Cognitive Studies, however, it is necessary to provide a targeted and specific solution for doctors, nurses and OSS.
The psychological impact of the pandemic on those who work in the front line
A study was recently published that investigated the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of 1,257 Chinese health workers.
Can you perceive the fear of those who are in contact every day with a disease such as Covid-19 with high morbidity and potentially lethal, which is afraid of getting infected or infecting their loved ones? And the loneliness of those who decide, as a precaution, to isolate themselves so as not to put their partner, their children, their parents at risk? All this has repercussions on the mental health of health professionals.
It has been established for years that one of the job categories most at risk of burnout are the socio-health professions: doctors, nurses, OSS are more likely to develop psychological disorders due to the stress to which they are subjected daily. This, in addition to representing an important health problem for the worker himself, has repercussions on the quality of the activity carried out with negative consequences, even serious ones, on the patients in charge.
Now, try to imagine what it means to work in health care during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Those who choose a healthcare profession know that they will have to deal with the pain and suffering of patients and relatives, with feelings of helplessness and lack of control in the face of disease and death, with a large emotional load to manage. But he probably never would have thought one day that he would face an emergency of this magnitude.
Read also: Post free Question Online
Imagine the sense of vulnerability of general practitioners, overwhelmed by requests for help, in the front line to visit often without PPE available (eg masks, gloves ...). Think of the stress of the nurses, under pressure and to the extreme after 12 hours exhausting shifts; to the impotence of doctors without effective drugs to treat the infection; to the anguish of an anesthesiologist who may have to choose who to give priority to intensive care ( here clinical ethics recommendations for admission to intensive treatments and for their suspension in exceptional conditions of imbalance between needs and available resources).
Can you perceive the fear of those who are in contact every single day with a highly morbid and potentially lethal disease, which is afraid of getting infected or infecting their loved ones at the end of the day? And the loneliness of those who decide, as a precaution, to isolate themselves so as not to put their partner, their children, their parents at risk?
Can you experience the excruciating anxiety and bewilderment of those who find themselves working in a department not their own? Or the sense of inadequacy of a novice graduate recruited for the emergency?
And you hear them the suspicious looks of neighbors who fear having the greaser next to them?
All these factors have repercussions, even heavy ones, on the mental health of the operators. Which?
A study titled Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019 was published on March 23, 2020 , which investigated the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on 1,257 Chinese health workers.
The participants were divided into "first-line operators" (in contact with patients with high fever or COVID-19 diagnosis) and "second-line operators".
Popup-Coronavirus-singleThe questionnaires administered (PHQ-9, GAD-7, ISI and IES-R) revealed the presence of depressive symptoms (50.4% of the subjects), anxiety (44.6%), insomnia (34.0%) and stress (71.5%). Nurses, women, Wuhan health workers and frontline operators are the subjects who reported the most severe symptoms in all assessments. In particular, being a frontline healthcare professional represents an important risk factor for the development of serious psychological symptoms, so much so as to suggest paying particular attention to mental health in this category.
Certainly the study has several methodological limits including the short duration (6 days), the lack of follow-up, the nature of the sample (mainly made up of subjects from Wuhan) and the absence of a control group. However, given the greater risk of burnout of the health care professions, it seems plausible to affirm the absolute need to immediately provide psychological support for all health professionals involved in the front line in the fight against the pandemic, which will accompany them also in the post-emergency . The goal must be not only the prevention and treatment of depression, anxiety, insomnia and stress, but also, as suggested.
In fact, it is necessary to avoid adding to the medical emergency a psychological emergency which would further undermine a system that cannot afford to be collapsed by those who are in the front line.
