Mental health of Brazilian physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic

Déborah Pimentel,Daniel Lima Figueiredo,Ikaro Daniel De Carvalho Barreto,Roberta Machado Pimentel Rebello De Mattos

doi:10.33448/rsd-v9i10.8758

Abstract

Aim: To identify the profile of Brazilian doctors and the prevalence of mental suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, exploratory quantitative study, performed between April and May 2020, using a sociodemographic questionnaire and a specific tool for tracking non-psychotic mental disorders: the Self Report Questionnaire. Results: Participant profile: women (68.1%), between 31 and 40 years old (39.9%), married or with partners (59.9%), without children (53.3%), with up to five years of graduation (30.9%), and working in public service (40.7%). The doctors (49.79%) show strong signs of mental suffering, with impaired sleep, headache, and psychotropic drug use. Many of them feel easily tired and have difficulty in satisfactorily carrying out daily activities. Many are tense, nervous or worried (77.4%); feel sad and are crying more than usual. Among them, 34.8% are losing interest in things, 14.6% feel they are useless, and 4.3% have suicidal thoughts. Conclusions: Almost half of the Brazilian doctors (49.79%) show strong signs of mental suffering, with a level of tension, nervousness and worry that affects more than half of the professionals. Ongoing programs for the prevention of mental disorders and suicide during and after the COVID-19 pandemic are required.

Highlights

Human history is marked by epidemics and pandemics
The imminence of COVID-19 in Brazil sparked the race to build field hospitals, purchase respirators, increase the number of ICU beds, and facilitate distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health professionals, in a previously environment marked by scenarios of hospital overcrowding, scarcity of equipment, corruption, and interference from private interests for decades in the Brazilian health system
In the Epidemiological Bulletin of the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health released on June 23, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 9,273,773 cases of COVID-19 and 477,807 deaths (Bastos, 2020) from this disease worldwide

Summary

Introduction

Human history is marked by epidemics and pandemics. At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, the world was encountered a new threat: a novel coronavirus ( known as COVID-19), whose rapid spread directly affected politics, the economy, the internet, social relations and, above all, the physical and mental health of the world population and health professionals across the planet. The imminence of COVID-19 in Brazil sparked the race to build field hospitals, purchase respirators, increase the number of ICU beds, and facilitate distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health professionals, in a previously environment marked by scenarios of hospital overcrowding, scarcity of equipment, corruption, and interference from private interests for decades in the Brazilian health system. On February 25, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was registered by the Ministry of Health in Brazil(Lima et al, 2020). In the Epidemiological Bulletin of the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health released on June 23, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 9,273,773 cases of COVID-19 and 477,807 deaths (Bastos, 2020) from this disease worldwide. June 23, 2020, we have 1,145,906 cases of COVID-19 and 56,645 deaths, with a lethality rate of 4,6% (Saúde, 2020)

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