Inpatient Physician and Nurse Experience During the COVID-19 Crisis at a Public Safety Net Hospital

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with front line health care provider burnout, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. We sought to better understand how nurses and physicians of differing genders may have been affected differently by the COVID-19 crisis. Methods: Between July 17, 2020, and October 31, 2020, we surveyed nurses and physicians caring for COVID-19 patients at a large, academic, public safety net hospital in the southern United States. Survey questions were adapted from validated questionnaires used to determine quality of life, assess levels of anxiety, and determine how COVID-19 may have affected our nurses’ and physicians’ work, home and social lives. Results: Overall, 120 (41.7%) providers responded, including 39 (50%) physicians and 81 (38.6%) nurses. 69.3% reported disruption to their home/family, 76.3% to their social lives, and 29.8% worried about financial strain. More nurses than physicians worried about being excluded from social gatherings (59.7% v 35.1%, p=0.01). Similarly, 70.1% of nurses and 46.0% of physicians expressed concern of exposing others to COVID-19 (p=0.01). Nurses also expressed greater concern about being treated differently by others when compared to physicians (64.5% v 37.8%, p= 0.01). Female physicians reported greater difficulty separating their personal lives from their professional lives than male physicians and either male or female nurses (84.6%% vs 35% vs 33.3% vs 35.9%, p <0.05). Most physicians (89.7%) and nurses (93.8%) reported some level of anxiety, with 31.5% of respondents experiencing moderate or severe anxiety. Conclusion: Healthcare workers on the frontline of COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of profession, reported increased anxiety that extended beyond the hospital into their homes and social lives. Physicians and nurses, as well as men and women, reported different sources and degrees of stress and disruption to their work, home and social lives.