Abstract
BackgroundIn the last 2 weeks of January 2021, Portugal was the worst country in the world in incidence of infections and deaths due to COVID-19. As a result, the pressure on the healthcare system increased exponentially, exceeding its capacities and leaving hospitals in near collapse. This scenario caused multiple constraints, particularly for hospital medical staff. Previous studies conducted at different moments during the pandemic reported that COVID-19 has had significant negative impacts on healthcare workers’ psychological health, including stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and sleep disturbances. However, there are many uncertainties regarding the professional quality of life of hospital nurses and physicians. To address gaps in previous research on secondary traumatic stress, we focused on healthcare workers working in hospitals affected by a major traumatic event: the third wave of COVID-19.ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to identify the contribution of personal and work-related contextual variables (gender, age, parental status, occupation, years of experience, working with patients affected by COVID-19) on professional quality of life of healthcare workers.MethodsCross-sectional study with a web-based questionnaire given to physicians and nurses working in a hospital setting. A total of 853 healthcare professionals (276 physicians and 586 nurses; median age 37 years old) participated in the survey assessing professional quality of life compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout. Factors of professional quality of life were assessed using regression analysis.ResultsMost of the participants showed moderate (80%; n = 684) or high (18%; n = 155) levels of compassion satisfaction, whereas the majority of them experienced moderate levels of burnout (72%; n = 613) and secondary traumatic stress (69%; n = 592). The analyzed variables demonstrated no differences between professionals who were directly or not involved in the care of COVID-19 patients. Parental status was found to be a significant factor in compassion satisfaction. Female gender was significantly associated with more susceptibility to secondary traumatization. Factors that may potentially contribute to burnout include years of professional experience and the number of work hours per week.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic has created a new challenge for the healthcare system. Burnout and secondary traumatic stress can lead to medical errors and impact standards of patient care, particularly compromising compassionate care. It is therefore recommended that hospitals develop psychoeducational initiatives to support professionals in dealing with barriers to compassion.
Highlights
By January 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) was reporting more than 98.2 million reported cases and over 2.1 million deaths globally since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021)
Burnout and secondary traumatic stress can lead to medical errors and impact standards of patient care, compromising compassionate care (e.g., Dewar, 2013)
No statistically significant differences were found between healthcare workers who were directly involved in caring for COVID-19 patients and those who were not (Not-COVID) with regard to compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (Table 2)
Summary
By January 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) was reporting more than 98.2 million reported cases and over 2.1 million deaths globally since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (World Health Organization [WHO], 2021). Portugal had the highest number per capita of new infections and deaths from COVID-19 in the world This increased the pressure on intensive care units exponentially, surpassing their capacities and leaving hospitals in near collapse (Demony, 2021). This scenario caused multiple issues, for hospital medical staff, such as increased demand for healthcare, increased patient mortality, overwhelming workload, working with patients infected with COVID-19 (Du et al, 2020; Duarte et al, 2020; Lai et al, 2020), emotional overburden, and uncertainty (Spoorthy, 2020). Healthcare workers were exposed to a high level of patient suffering, and had to deal with patients’ traumatic experiences (Brooks et al, 2020) and the unexpected loss of friends, family, and colleagues in an overwhelmed healthcare system All of these experiences have the potential to affect professional quality of life.
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