Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely tested the physical and mental health of health care workers (HCWs). The various stages of the epidemic have posed different problems; consequently, only a prospective study can effectively describe the changes in the workers’ health. This repeated cross-sectional study is based on a one-year investigation (spring 2020 to spring 2021) of intensive care physicians in one of the two COVID-19 hub hospitals in Central Italy and aims to study the evolution of the mental health status of intensivists during the pandemic. Changes in their work activity due to the pandemic were studied anonymously together with their perception of organisational justice, occupational stress, sleep quality, anxiety, depression, burnout, job satisfaction, happiness, and intention to quit. In May–June 2021, one year after the baseline, doctors reported an increased workload, isolation at work and in their social life, a lack of time for physical activity and meditation, and compassion fatigue. Stress was inversely associated with the perception of justice in safety procedures and directly correlated with work isolation. Occupational stress was significantly associated with anxiety, depression, burnout, dissatisfaction, and their intention to quit. Procedural justice was significantly associated with happiness. Doctors believed vaccinations would help control the problem; however, this positive attitude had not yet resulted in improved mental health. Doctors reported high levels of distress (73%), sleep problems (28%), anxiety (25%), and depression (64%). Interventions to correct the situation are urgently needed.
Highlights
Worldwide, the physical and mental health of health care workers (HCWs) has been put at risk by the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
All the anaesthetists working in the COVID-19 department of the “A. Gemelli” University hospital in Rome were invited to participate by completing an anonymous questionnaire on the SurveyMonkey online platform
The type of medical activity had become progressively more repetitive and monotonous because of the need to continually apply the same diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in COVID-19 patients. Contact with their patients’ families was limited and there was an increasingly frequent need to inform patients of the unfavourable outcome of treatment, all of which contributed to determining compassion fatigue (Table 2)
Summary
The physical and mental health of health care workers (HCWs) has been put at risk by the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). During the first phase of the pandemic, HCWs who came into contact with patients and were not adequately protected developed the disease and in turn frequently became carriers of infection [1]. SARS-CoV-2 (the estimated cumulated prevalence of a positive reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction on a mucosal swab was 11%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 7, 15) [2]. HCWs who were COVID-19-positive accounted for a significant proportion of all COVID-19 patients. The severity and mortality of the disease were lower among HCWs [3], several were affected by long COVID or had permanent outcomes.
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