Mental Health Of Medical Staff Research Articles

Psychosocial Effect of COVID-19 Phobia in Health Workers in the Pandemic Service and Intensive Care

Objective: It was aimed to evaluate the phobia levels of COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) in medical staff working in the pandemic service and intensive care service and to examine its relationship with psychosocial impact levels. Material and Method: The study included 100 people working in the pandemic service and intensive care units in the first year of the pandemic. Sociodemographic Data Form, COVID-19 Pandemic Psychosocial Impact Scale (CPPIS) and COVID-19 Phobia Scale (CPS) were administered to all participants. Results: The mean age of the participants was 32.5±7.4 years and 74% of them were women. Of them 29% were doctors, 52% were nurses, 19% were allied health personnel and 66% worked in the service, 29% in the intensive care unit and 5% in both. There were very strong correlations between the CPS and the CPPIS total score, the death anxiety and anxious thoughts subscale scores. A strong positive correlation was found between the CPS and CPPIS subscales scores including close relationships, functionality and somatic symptoms. A significant positive correlation was found between CPS and CPPIS scores and the duration of working in the pandemic service and intensive care unit. Conclusion: It was thought that as choranophobia increased in medical staffs working in the pandemic service, their psychosocial effects also increased. It has been thought that reducing the working time in the service and/or intensive care unit during the pandemic, performing short-term rotations, may reduce the level of psychosocial impact and even be protective in terms of mental health of medical staff.

Investigating and analyzing the current situation and factors influencing chronic neck, shoulder, and lumbar back pain among medical personnel after the epidemic

BackgroundChronic shoulder and neck pain is one of the most common chronic occupational disorders, with an average incidence rate of 48.5%, severely affecting patients’ quality of life and ability to work. According to epidemiological research, the prevalence of chronic neck, shoulder, and low back pain in adults over the age of 45 ranges from 40 to 80%. According to reports, medical staff have a higher incidence rate than other populations, and there is a positive correlation between the grade of the medical institution and the incidence rate, making medical staff a priority group for the prevention of chronic neck, shoulder, and low back pain. By the end of 2022, China has been fully opened to epidemic prevention and control, the total number of patients in domestic hospitals has increased significantly, and resulting in medical personnel shoulting great pressure, which seriously affects the physical and mental health of medical personnel. The aim of this study was to explore the risk factors of chronic neck, shoulder and lumbar back pain in medical staff. To provide guidelines for medical staff to improve cervical and lumbar subacute pain and reduce the emergence of spinal lesions.MethodsFrom January to February 2023, 602 staff members of a third-grade hospital in Zunyi City were studied by Questionnaire star. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression were used to analyze the independent risk factors of chronic neck, shoulder and lumbar back pain in medical staff, with stepwise regression utilized to choose the optimum model. The model was selected using Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) and the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test.ResultsA total of 602 medical staff were polled, and the findings revealed that 588 cases of chronic neck, shoulder, and low back pain of varied severity had occurred in the previous 1 to 2 years, with a 97.7% incidence rate; logistic regression analysis revealed that anxiety level, frequency of bending over in the previous 1 to 2 years, whether related preventive measures were taken at work, gender, positive senior title, daily ambulation time, and whether the department they worked in organized independent influencing factors.ConclusionThe incidence of chronic neck, shoulder, and lumbar back pain among medical staff is high; its influencing factors are different and have not been systematically identified. Hospitals should take effective measures tailored to local conditions to improve the physical and mental health of medical staff.

Psychological Status of Medical Staff in Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospitals during the Omicron Pandemic Outbreak in China.

Medical staff in China faced great challenges and psychological and physiological changes of varying degrees during the omicron epidemic outbreak. It is important to recognize the potential impact of these challenges on the mental health of medical staff and to provide appropriate resources and support to mitigate their effects. A total of 354 medical staff in two obstetrics and gynecology hospitals of different grades were included in this survey using convenience sampling. The cross-sectional self-report questionnaires survey was conducted using the Basic Characteristics Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). There were 169 (47.7%) participants suffering from anxiety disorder. Working with fever, working in obstetrics, and working with protective clothing were the risk factors for anxiety in medical staff (p < 0.05). One hundred and ninety-six (55.4%) participants were depressed. Working with fever and working in obstetrics were the risk factors for depression in medical staff (p < 0.05). There were 117 (33.1%) participants suffering from insomnia. Working with fever, high educational level, and severe COVID-19 infection status were the risk factors for insomnia in medical staff (p < 0.05). Moreover, medical staff in a provincial hospital were more anxious and depressed than those in a county hospital. At last, there were more participants working with fever in obstetrics (p < 0.05). Anxiety disorder, depression, and insomnia were common among obstetrics and gynecology medical staff during the outbreak of omicron pandemic. During this period, more resources for psychological counselling should be provided to the hospital as well as more reasonable staffing arrangements, and working while having a fever is prohibited, especially in provincial hospital.

Physical discomforts, feeling of the high work intensity and the related risk factors of the frontline medical staff during COVID-19 epidemic: an early-outbreak, national survey in China.

Facing the unknown virus, COVID-19 medical staff kept wearing thick personal protective equipment during their work in the early stage of the outbreak. The survey was designed to investigate the physical discomforts, the feeling of the work intensity and the related risk factors of the frontline medical staff during COVID-19 epidemic in the early outbreak. An national survey was carried out in China from March 17th 2020 to March 20th 2020 by applying a standardized WeChat questionnaire survey. The doctors or nurses working in the wards for the confirmed COVID-19 patients on front-line were eligible to participate in the survey. Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used. A total number of 515 COVID-19 medical staff, including 190 physicians and 325 nurses participated in this survey. 375 medical staff (72.8%) experienced physical discomforts at work, mostly consist of dyspnea (45.8%), pain (41.0%), chest distress (24.1%), dizziness (18.8%), and weakness (17.5%), while wearing thick isolation clothes at work. The mean onset time and peak time of these symptoms were 2.4 h and 3.5 h after working, respectively. 337 medical staff (65.4%) suffered from sleep disorders. 51 medical staff (10%) were highly worried about being infected by COVID-19 even during their work breaks. 246 medical staffs (47.8%) felt high work intensity and the independent influential factors were the effective daily sleep time and anxiety levels at break time (p = 0.04). The frontline medical staff during COVID-19 epidemic felt different physical discomforts when they wear thick isolation clothes at work in the early outbreak and they felt high work intensity. These precious data will help optimize the work management strategy to ensure the physical and mental health of medical staff in the face of similar outbreaks in future.

Exploring Risk Factors of Psychological Distress among Chinese Medical Workforce

As the pioneer in responding COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, many problems were exposed in the health system, which was concealed and neglected before the pandemic, especially mental health wellness among health workers. This paper focused on the risk factor in the health work environment, to find the external reasons for health workers as this is the most obvious and examinable way to target the association. Different risk factors in the Chinese health workplace indicated one risk factor which influences health workers in one circumstance, could also exist in other contexts. In conclusion, there is not only one risk factor associated with mental health problems, but various factors work together to trigger the bad influence. The suggestion is to pay more attention to health workers mental health wellness by monitoring their mental health status constantly, therefore, implement the intervention timely. Research and policy reviews are required for providing health workers with better circumstances, to support and sustain their mental health and well-being. Further studies are required in the Chinese rural context, as there are more challenging treatments that still require the intervention of medical professionals, and the risk factors present in remote areas may be different from those in urban medicine, so the reasons for affecting the mental health of medical staff may be different.

Psychology, stress, insomnia, and resilience of medical staff in China during the COVID-19 policy opening: a cross-sectional survey.

Since 8 January 2023 China has liberalized its control of COVID-19. In a short period of time, the infection rate of COVID-19 in China has risen rapidly, which has brought a heavy burden to medical staff. This study aimed to investigate the psychological status, stress, insomnia, effort-reward imbalance, resilience, and influencing factors of medical staff in China during the period of epidemic policy liberalization. This survey was conducted from 6 February to 27 March 2023 with non-random sampling. An online questionnaire survey was conducted using HADS, PSS-14, ISI, ERI, and the resilience assessment scale for medical staff. The levels of psychological, stress, insomnia, effort-reward imbalance, and resilience of medical staff during the pandemic policy opening period were measured. A total of 2,038 valid questionnaires were collected. 68.5% and 53.9% of medical staff had different degrees of anxiety and depression, respectively. Excessive stress, insomnia, and high effort and low reward were 40.2%, 43.2%, and 14.2%, respectively. Gender, Profession, education level, and age are important factors that lead to anxiety and depression. Women, nurses, higher education, longer working years and hours, high effort, and low reward are risk factors for the above conditions. There was a certain correlation among the five scales, among which anxiety, depression, stress, insomnia, effort-reward imbalance, and other factors were positively correlated, while resilience was negatively correlated with these factors. This study found that anxiety, depression, stress, insomnia, and other psychological problems of medical staff in China during the policy opening period of COVID-19 were more serious than before. At the individual and organizational levels, it is necessary to improve the well-being of medical staff, optimize the allocation of human resources, and promote the mental health of medical staff with a focus on prevention and mitigation, with the entry point of improving resilience and preventing the effort-reward imbalance.

Prevalence of burnout and mental health problems among medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the burnout and mental health of medical staff. This meta-analysis aims to provide additional (and updated) evidence related to burnout and...

An intelligent framework to measure the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of medical staff.

The mental and physical well-being of healthcare workers is being affected by global COVID-19. The pandemic has impacted the mental health of medical staff in numerous ways. However, most studies have examined sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic problems in healthcare workers during and after the outbreak. The study's objective is to evaluate COVID-19's psychological effects on healthcare professionals of Saudi Arabia. Healthcare professionals from tertiary teaching hospitals were invited to participate in the survey. Almost 610 people participated in the survey, of whom 74.3% were female, and 25.7% were male. The survey included the ratio of Saudi and non-Saudi participants. The study has utilized multiple machine learning algorithms and techniques such as Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF), K Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Gradient Boosting (GB), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM). The machine learning models offer 99% accuracy for the credentials added to the dataset. The dataset covers several aspects of medical workers, such as profession, working area, years of experience, nationalities, and sleeping patterns. The study concluded that most of the participants who belonged to the medical department faced varying degrees of anxiety and depression. The results reveal considerable rates of anxiety and depression in Saudi frontline workers.

The influence of changes in the Chinese COVID-19 prevention and control policies on mental health of medical staff: A network analysis

BackgroundShortly after the first outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, the disease spread rapidly around the world. Previous findings reported an increase in mental health problems among Chinese medical staff, but there was a lack of research following changes in COVID-19 prevention and control policies. MethodsMedical staff were recruited separately in China from 15 to 16 December 2022 (N = 765, wave 1) and from 5 to 8 January 2023 (N = 690, wave 2). All participants completed the assessments of Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Euthymia Scale. Network analysis was used to explore the relationships between symptoms both within and across depression, anxiety and euthymia. ResultsMedical staff showed worse anxiety, depression and euthymia at wave 2 than at wave 1. Depression, motor, restlessness and uncontrollable worrying showed high centrality (i.e., strength, expected influence, closeness) at wave 1, but higher at peak. Meanwhile, motor symptoms and restlessness showed the strongest connection between different mental disorders at both wave 1 and wave 2. The network structure was stable over time after the relaxation of the infection policy.Limitations.Our participants were not a random sample and the assessments were based on self-reports. ConclusionsThis study indicated the changes in central and bridging symptoms in medical staff at different stages after lifting of restrictions and the withdrawal of testing requirements, which provided management suggestions for the Chinese government and hospitals, as well as clinical guidance for psychological interventions.

Are we ready for the next pandemic? Lessons learned from healthcare professionals' perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mental health and wellbeing of people watching the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic unfold has been discussed widely, with many experiencing feelings of anxiety and depression. The state of mental health of medical staff on the frontlines providing care should be examined; medical staff are overworked to meet the demands of providing care to the rise in cases and deterioration in capacity to meet demands, and this has put them under great psychological pressure. This may lead to an increase in medical errors, affect quality of care, and reduce staff retention rates. Understanding the impact the pandemic has had on healthcare professionals is needed to provide recommendations to prepare for future crises. To be able to meet the needs of the medical workforce on the frontlines and inform psychological support interventions and strategies for future pandemics, we aim to identify and explore the psychological impact of COVID-19 in Kuwait on healthcare professionals in close contact with patients. Using semi-structured interviews, we conducted interviews between February and July 2021 with 20 healthcare professionals across Ministry of Health hospitals who were part of COVID teams. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analysis was conducted using principles of thematic framework analysis. Three themes emerged to help prepare future healthcare frontline workers on an individual, organizational, and national level: enhance self-resilience, a better-equipped workforce and healthcare environment, and mitigate stigma and increase public awareness. The results have assisted in highlighting areas of improvement to support the healthcare workforce in the current environment, as well as better prepare them for future pandemics. The findings have also provided insight to recommend targeted interventions. These should improve the psychological wellbeing and help in supporting healthcare professionals to reduce burnout, continue effective care of patients, and enhance resilience.

Comparing the Resilience of the Medical Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic After Yalom Group Psychotherapy and Acceptance and Commitment Group Therapy

Background: The medical staff working on the front-line battle against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are more exposed to mental health risks than the general population. Resilience is the ability to withstand challenging situations and help people defend their mental health against stressors. The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Yalom and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) on medical staff resilience in COVID-19 centers. Methods: The research method was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design and a control group. The statistical population includes all 600 medical staff of Hamedan City, Iran, caring for patients with COVID-19 in 2021. Based on the average variance of resilience obtained in previous studies, 45 people were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental groups (each 15) and one control group (n=15). The experimental groups were divided into Yalom and ACT group psychotherapy, and all three groups responded to the Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC) before and after the intervention. The obtained data were analyzed by analysis of covariance in SPSS software, version 25. Results: Yalom group psychotherapy and ACT group therapy had different effects on the participants’ resilience and are statistically significant since the F statistics (106.722) was significant (P=0.001 and P=0.05, respectively). Based on the results, Yalom group psychotherapy has a better rate of improvement than ACT. Conclusion: Considering the significant efficacy of Yalom group psychotherapy and its relative ease of implementation compared to ACT, it is possible to employ this intervention to protect the mental health of medical staff during severe epidemics of diseases such as coronavirus.

Anxiety and Depression Levels and Coping Strategies among Polish Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical staff were commonly exposed to stress, work under pressure, and long shifts, and may have experienced a fear of infecting loved ones or a fear for their own health. All of these factors may have increased the likelihood that healthcare workers will experience the symptoms of depression, anxiety, or other mental health disorders. In this cross-sectional study, a group of respondents was gathered from the employees of 78 hospitals in Poland. A questionnaire was completed electronically by 282 people, aged between 20 and 78 years. The study used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the MiniCOPE questionnaire to examine anxiety and depression symptoms, and coping strategies, respectively. With age, the respondents declared fewer symptoms of anxiety and tended to have milder symptoms of depression. Participants with chronic illnesses, mood disorders, or anxiety disorders also reported higher levels of anxiety and depression symptoms. More than 20% of healthcare workers felt the need to consult with a psychologist. In the entire group of healthcare professionals surveyed, the most commonly used strategies for coping with stress were "denial", "psychoactive drug and alcohol use", and "cessation of activities", while the least used strategy was "acceptance". Given the most commonly used strategies in the surveyed group of healthcare professionals, they may be predictors for a deterioration in mental state in the long run. The obtained results also suggest that it is likely that pre-existing health problems had a greater impact on the mental health of medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic than the profession itself. Therefore, taking care of the well-being and mental health of healthcare workers should be a priority for employers.

Burnout, depression, anxiety and insomnia among medical staff during the COVID-19 epidemic in Shanghai.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has progressively impacted our daily lives, resulting in unexpected physical and mental stress on medical staff. This study is designed to investigate the levels of and risk factors for burnout, depression, anxiety, and insomnia among medical staff during the COVID-19 epidemic breakout in Shanghai, China. This cross-sectional survey was conducted from May 1 to May 31, 2022, among medical staff who were on the frontline during the epidemic breakout in Shanghai from different institutions. The MBI-HSS was used to assess burnout, PHQ-9, GAD-7 and ISI were used to evaluate mental status and insomnia. A total of 543 valid questionnaires were collected. The depersonalization, depression, anxiety, and insomnia scores of medical staff were significantly higher during the pandemic in Shanghai compared with norms, while lack of personal achievement scores were decreased. Working time, work unit, work environment and age are important influencers of burnout, depression and anxiety of medical staff. Long working hours are the most likely causes of burnout and emotional disorders. Medical staff in primary hospitals were most likely to suffer from burnout and emotional disorders, while medical staff in tertiary hospitals had a reduced sense of personal achievement. Young medical staff are prone to negative emotions such as depression and anxiety, while older medical staff have a lower sense of personal accomplishment. Medical staff who were not in the shelter hospitals or designated hospitals were more likely to have problems of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and anxiety than those who were in the shelter hospitals or designated hospitals. Contracting COVID-19 had no effect on medical staff. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were positively correlated with anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders while personal achievement was negatively correlated with these factors. Medical staff in Shanghai had high burnout, depression, anxiety and insomnia levels during the epidemic outbreak in Shanghai. During the COVID-19, medical staff may suffer different psychological problems which should be concerned. Care and supports about burnout, mental health and insomnia need to be taken to promote the mental health of medical staff according to different characteristics of medical staff.

Assessment of mental health of medical personnel during COVID-19: insights from Pakistan

The purpose of this paper is to examine how fear of COVID-19 affects: i) psychological distress; and ii) anxiety among healthcare workers. Additionally, the possible mediating role of passion was conceptually hypothesized and empirically tested in these two relationships. Data were collected from 360 healthcare employees working at hospitals in Pakistan. AMOS (v.26) was used to perform confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test hypotheses and relationships. The results of the study revealed the fear of COVID-19, the psychological distress, and anxiety of medical personnel have positive connections. There is now strong evidence that fear of COVID-19 substantially influences anxiety and psychological distress. In particular, the results demonstrate that passion did not mediate the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and employees’ mental health. It concludes that the outcomes of this work support the presence of a significant association between COVID-19 fear and the mental health of medical staff in Pakistan. Implications are discussed in light of the findings.

Violence in the workplace. The occurrence of the phenomenon in relation to health care workers.

Excessive workload of medical workers resulting from insufficient staffing and prolonged stress lead, among others, to burnout, which is a serious problem in the medical community. Research shows that the incidence of anxiety and stress disorders is increasing. For years, the social climate around medical staff in Poland has also been deteriorating. The media write more often about errors and omissions, and less about the daily work of medics. This leads to a decline in public confidence, as well as hate and acts of aggression. The occurrence of the phenomenon of violence against medical staff may be a factor in the development of many diseases associated with high levels of stress and should be of interest to occupational medicine services. The aim of the work is to describe the phenomenon of violence against health care workers and its impact on the working conditions and health of workers. The literature from 2010-2022 was reviewed in PubMed and Web of Science databases by entering the following entries: "violence", "aggression", "healthcare", "stress", "nurses", "doctors", "workplace". Eighty-three works on the occurrence of the phenomenon of violence against health care workers were qualified for the study. The results of the analysis indicate a shortage of studies on Polish medical entities. The phenomenon of violence against health care workers is a serious problem of public health in the world. The most common forms of workplace violence were verbal violence, physical assault, bullying, sexual harassment and racial harassment. Most often, the violence was committed by patients and their relatives, colleagues and superiors. Aggression towards medical staff is not a new phenomenon, and Poland as a country is not alone in dealing with this problem. Aggression and violence are most often observed in hospital departments, especially psychiatric departments, hospital emergency departments and emergency rooms. Patients and their families are most often regarded as the source of rude behavior. Crisis situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have intensified the scale of the phenomenon. Managing a pandemic also requires establishing preventive procedures for aggression and violence. Additional factors hindering the work of medical personnel may lead to The shortage of studies on Polish medical entities indicates the need to conduct work aimed at determining the scale of the phenomenon and its causes, taking into account the division into organizational units as well as groups of patients and their relatives. Accurate determination of the scale of the phenomenon and predisposing factors will allow to take appropriate innovative preventive actions, which will contribute to limiting the negative consequences. Managers ofmedical entities should take steps to increase the number of reports. Violence has a negative impact on the mental health of medical staff and may cause irreversible physical and mental harm to those who experience it; therefore, it is very important to involve occupational health services in actions to solve the problem.

Mindfulness and mental health in medical staff in the COVID-19 period: Mediating role of perceived social support and sense of security

This study examined the association between mindfulness and the mental health outcomes of medical staff during the COVID-19 outbreak period. We also explored the perceived social support and sense of security as mediators in this relationship. The participants were 400 medical staff (male= 23%, female= 77%; 14.8% with suspected exposure to COVID-19) from China. The medical staff completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Perceived Social Support Scale (SSS), Security Questionnaire (SQ), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and General Well-being Scale (GWB). The path analysis results showed that mindfulness was associated with lower depression symptoms and higher subjective well-being. The medical staffwho perceived higher social support and s sense of security had lower mental distress and higher well-being. Perceived social support enhanced mental health and well-being through the sense of security. The predictive effect of perceived social support on the sense of security of medical staff who had contact with suspected COVID-19 patients was significantly stronger than that of medical staff did not have suspected COVID-19 contact. These findings indicate a need to provide more mindfulness-related training (e.g., Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, MBSR) to improve the mental health of medical staff and provide more support to ensure their sense of security. In addition, more humanistic care and material resources should be provided to medical staff in high-risk departments.

Psychological stress and influencing factors of hospital workers in different periods under the public health background of infectious disease outbreak: A cross-sectional study.

Background and AimsIt is well known that public health emergencies can affect the mental health of medical personnel, and many studies have focused on cross‐sectional studies with short‐term benefits. The present study aimed to investigate the long‐term influence of infectious disease outbreak about the mental health of hospital staff.MethodsThe demographic characteristics and mental health status of staff in Fuzhou, China, were analyzed by using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD‐7) Scale and Depression Screening Scale (9‐item Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ‐9]) in February and December 2020.ResultsThere were no significant differences in anxiety levels during different time periods (p > 0.05), but there were significant differences among anxiety level and total score of GAD‐7 scale (p < 0.001). There were significant differences among the number of people with depression, depression level, and total score on the PHQ‐9 scale (p < 0.001). As the pandemic progressed, total scores of anxiety in medical staff with different titles decreased (p < 0.05), but depression scores in professionals with intermediate and senior titles increased significantly (p < 0.05). changes in anxiety and depression scores during different time periods also changed according to hospital worker specialty. Total scores of anxiety in doctors, nurses, medical technicians, and other staff members all decreased (p < 0.05), while total scores of depression in doctors, nurses, and other staff members significantly increased (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in total depression score among medical technicians (p > 0.05).ConclusionsSince the outbreak of an infectious disease public health emergency, the anxiety of hospital staff has decreased over time, but the depression has increased. The management and psychological support personnel in medical institutions should continue to pay attention to the mental health of medical staff, and it is necessary to take different intervention measures in different periods when implementing the psychological crisis prevention mechanism.

Study of mental health of medical staff in a specialized hospital for COVID-19 in Novi Sad

Background and Objectives: The highly infectious novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019 and soon became a global pandemic. COVID-19 is escalating medical staff psychological. In Novi Sad Clinical Centre of Vojvodina (CCV) for the past 2 years there has been a continuous struggle against the COVID-19 crisis. Both senior specialist doctors and newly hired young doctors, some without work experience, were hired immediately after completing their studies. Aim: To investigate the mental health of clinical first-line medical staff in COVID-19 epidemic. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study involving CCV staff who worked in the first line of patient treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were given a self- administered questionnaire which included information on demographic and socio- economic characteristics and the validated DASS-21 and IES-R scale instrument. A total of 200 medical workers were involved. Results: Twenty-eight (14%) participants screened positive for depression, 49 (24,5%) for anxiety, 66 (33%) for stress, and 22 (11%) for clinical concern of PTSD. The most endangered are young nurses and doctors with less than 6 months of previous work experience. Conclusion: In conclusion, our results suggest frontline medical staff involved in treatment of COVID-19 patients should be closely monitored as a high-risk group for depression and anxiety, and given proper training before deployment.

Mental Health Status of Medical Staff Exposed to Hospital Workplace Violence: A Prospective Cohort Study.

ObjectiveHospital workplace violence is one of the most frequently reported types of workplace violence in the world, and it harms the mental and physical health of medical staff. Existing research on workplace violence focused more on cross-sectional studies, than longitudinal studies. Therefore, this study examined the dynamic impact of hospital workplace violence on the mental health of medical staff, with the aim of providing appropriate countermeasures and suggestions for hospitals to develop targeted psychological intervention measures in time for medical staff who experience workplace violence.DesignA prospective cohort study.ParticipantsA total of 112 medical staff who had experienced workplace violence in the hospital for the first time were chosen.SettingAn unconditional latent variable growth curve model was established based on the average value of the general health scale scores of medical staff, and gender and violence types (intimidation threats, physical violence) as control variables. Each medical staff was assessed for depression and anxiety at 4 different time points and the changes in the trajectories was observed.ResultsThere were significant differences in the incidence of mental health and anxiety among medical staff at different observation times. There were significant individual differences in the initial mental health status, growth rate of anxiety and depression of medical staff.ConclusionsHospitals should undertake various psychological intervention strategies based on the staff's mental health to safeguard those who have experienced workplace violence.

Depression and Insomnia of Front-Line Medical Staff During the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: An On-Line Cross-Sectional Study.

PurposeDuring the COVID-19 outbreak, medical staff working in high-risk workplaces had a higher rate of epidemic infection. They also faced heavy workloads and pressure, which means they are more likely to suffer from psychological problems than others. To understand the mental health of medical staff during the epidemic, we explore the characteristics of medical staff susceptible to negative psychological emotions during the outbreak of public safety and health events. At the same time, we provide corresponding prevention and intervention measures to help them relieve negative emotions, this study compared the psychological symptoms of front-line and non-front-line medical staff, then explored its influencing factors.MethodsThis research investigated 5,924 medical staff in Guangdong, Beijing, Hubei, Hainan, Jiangxi, and Henan in China. The questionnaires were released online by Questionnaire Star, and levels of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and social support were measured by Patients' Health Questionnaire Depression Scale-9 item (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale (GAD-7), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS).ResultsThe depressive, anxious, and insomniac scores of front-line medical staff during the COVID-19 epidemic period were higher than those of non-front-line with significant differences (P < 0.001). In addition, front-line nurses went through the most serious psychological problems. Age, education, and anxiety level were the influencing factors of depression and insomnia in front-line medical staff. Among them, age was a protective factor for depression (OR = 0.71 <1, P = 0.001 <0.05, Beta = −0.34), while educational level was a risk factor for insomnia (OR = 1.27, P = 0.02 <0.05, Beta = 0.24).ConclusionsDuring the epidemic, front-line medical staff would experience more serious psychological problems, especially those who were younger, less experienced, and insufficiently educated. Attention should be paid to giving them psychological assistance and psychological interventions in the future.