Psychiatrists and COVID-19: what is our role during this unprecedented time?

M Scriven,B D Kelly,E Geary

doi:10.1017/ipm.2020.95

Abstract

The declaration of a COVID-19 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - CoronaVirus2) pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020 has vastly changed the landscape in which mental health services function. Consideration is required to adapt services during this unusual time, ensuring continued provision of care for current patients, availability of care for patients with new-onset mental health difficulties and delivery of evidence-based support for healthcare professionals working with affected patients. Lessons can be learned from research carried out during the severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome and Ebola epidemics to ensure the delivery of efficient and effective mental health services both now and into the future.

Highlights

In March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that the current outbreak of COVID-19 (SARSCoV2) to be a pandemic (Bedford et al 2020)
It has been reported that the pandemic will increase psychiatric morbidity in both the short term and the long term (Holmes et al 2020; Goldman, 2000), with a suggestion that this morbidity will last longer and peak later than the pandemic itself (Gunnell et al 2020)
The mortality rate of COVID-19 (2.3%) is lower than both severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (9.5%) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) (34.4%), and COVID-19 generally spreads in the community due to its less severe clinical picture, compared to the nosocomial spread of both SARS and MERS (Petrosillo et al 2020)

Summary

Introduction

In March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that the current outbreak of COVID-19 (SARSCoV2) to be a pandemic (Bedford et al 2020). As of May 2020, over 55% of deaths have occurred in Europe, but the full medical, economic, educational and social repercussions of the outbreak around the world have yet to be established (WHO, 2020). The precise nature and extent of the mental health challenges are, still unknown owing to the acute and novel nature of COVID-19 (Xiang et al 2020a). The efforts of the scientific and medical communities have been focused on the epidemiology, clinical presentations and emergency management of COVID-19, with limited focus on the mental health aspect of the pandemic (Shah et al 2020b)

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