Abstract
The COVID-19 health crisis has had a global effect, but the consequences in the different countries affected have been very different. In Spain, in a short period of time, health professionals went from a situation of stability to living with a working environment characterized by overcrowded hospitals, lack of individual protection equipment, non-existent or contradictory work protocols, as well as an unknown increase in mortality. Although in their professional activity health workers are closely linked to death processes, in recent months, working conditions and health emergencies have drawn an unheard of working scenario, with the stress and anxiety they may suffer when faced with the death of their patients. The present quantitative research was carried out in different hospitals in Spain on health professionals during the month of April 2020. Through the subscale of anxiety in the face of the death of others, developed by Collett–Lester, it has been verified that health professionals have had to develop their work in a context of precariousness, putting at risk both their individual and collective health, notably increasing anxiety in the face of the death of their patients. The predictive variables of this anxiety have been the absence of individual protection equipment, as well as high levels in the burnout subscales of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic, which in recent months has attracted worldwide attention because of the large numbers of people affected and of victims, is an unprecedented event in the 21st century
If the current pandemic resulting from Covid-19 has taught us anything, it is that we need to analyze the work context where health professionals exercise their profession, especially in those situations linked to the processes of death of patients
The SARS-CoV-2 virus has highlighted how poorly prepared health institutions were for a pandemic like the one we are experiencing at the beginning of this century
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic, which in recent months has attracted worldwide attention because of the large numbers of people affected and of victims, is an unprecedented event in the 21st century. In Spain, 252,130 confirmed cases of infection, 28,392 deaths and 150,376 cured have been diagnosed by the Coordination Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies (Centro de Coordinación de Alertas y Emergencias Sanitarias, CCAES). This figure continues to rise, with less intensity. [43] in all spheres of life we find evidence of these attempts at permanence: literature, works of art or monuments are examples of this This awareness of death can produce a sensation of confusion, meaninglessness or fear and generate undesirable behavior [44]; some cases are the result of mental health problems, and others are not directly related to death but generated by this awareness of the end of existence As a shield to minimize the effects that thinking about death can generate and attenuate this anxiety in the face of death, the human being is involved in developing self-esteem, provoking the feeling of being a valuable member of the culture to which he belongs and being able to be remembered after death. [43] in all spheres of life we find evidence of these attempts at permanence: literature, works of art or monuments are examples of this.
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