Summary
The issues related to workers mental health attracted the attention of psychological practitioners and theorists’ attention right after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Certainly, the unknown disease was frightening initially, with mortality and severe complications. Factories and offices were shut, setting lockdown and isolation mode. Subsequently, the indirect consequences of combating the spread of COVID-19 become noticeable. In those who contract the disease and the general population, these outcomes may result in various emotional responses, including anxiety or psychiatric disorders, excessive substance use, and disregard for public health regulations (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). Therefore, COVID-19-preventing strategies influenced all spheres of human life, especially health workers, who are in constant danger of contamination and inability to see their relatives. The numerous emotional effects, some of which lingered after the confinement was released, included stress, sadness, irritability, insomnia, disorientation, anger, and stigma related to quarantine. As a result of vaccination, the risk of disease and serious consequences of COVID-19 has decreased, and the employed population’s mental state is still in need of a cure.
Population Constituting a Risk Group
Compassion fatigue, which can be linked to therapeutic failure and interaction with family in the final stages of life, has been made worse by the new working conditions during the pandemic. The front-line healthcare workers who faced the instant effect were nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, resuscitators, and immunologists. Anesthesiologists assigned to units caring for COVID-19 patients must now provide more acute and palliative treatment. This puts anesthetists at risk for burnout, a syndrome marked by emotional tiredness, a lack of accomplishment, and depersonalization (Magnavita et al., 2020). Staff members of intensive care units are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection, particularly during cardiopulmonary resuscitation and aerosol-generating airway procedures. Thus, all frontline medical workers carried additional risks of contracting the disease due to the specifics of their professional duties, resulting in increased concerns related to mental health.
The healthcare staff who weren’t on the front lines likewise expressed worry about COVID-19 caused by their unpreparedness to manage the disease on a patient level and incapability of preventing themselves. Psychiatrists believed they were more in danger of exposure. Their wards were full, and several patients with aggressive tendencies who made social distance challenging or directly challenged the use of personal protection equipment by healthcare professionals were transferred from emergency rooms. In one study, twelve psychiatry residents were temporarily assigned to frontline positions to see how likely they would be to give mental health treatments to other healthcare professionals. Following that shift, no one volunteered to offer other healthcare professionals face-to-face mental health treatments, but 75% indicated they would (Muller, 2020). Consequently, even those who were taught how to provide psychological assistance after experiencing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic recognized the influence on their psychological condition and capacity to offer psychological service.
The mental health of all categories of medical personnel was at risk of trauma during the pandemic. However, available information regarding the severity of an impact on the physical health of workers indicates a correlation with their gender. Anxiety levels were shown to be significantly greater in women and nurses than in men and doctors in a recent study regarding COVID-19 patients treatment. Given the longer work hours and more frequent patient interaction that nurses have, the fatigue and strain brought on by these elements are understandable (Ornell et al., 2020). Constant underestimation of the importance of nurses’ activities was also one of the factors that made their mental state vulnerable to the stress caused by the pandemic. Therefore, the definition of a specific category of medical workers at the highest risk of acquiring mental disorders due to stress at work should include an individual approach and specifics of the activity of each medical worker.
The other feature of the pandemic influences differentiation is the physician’s and nurses work experience. The conclusion of the current study indicated that post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive symptoms were more common in doctors with less work experience. This result implies that the more knowledgeable healthcare professionals are, the less mentally unpleasant experiences they report. This finding is consistent with prior research and could be interpreted as developing resilience and adaptable coping skills through time in the workplace (Chatzittofis, 2021). The ability to cope with occupational stress and the negative impact on mental well-being in health workers is a skill that can be acquired during the performance of work duties and is associated with the physicians ability to self-analyse and self-diagnose.
Recent Discoveries in the Mental Health Sphere
Large-scale house confinement in this crisis severely limits the possibility of observing psychosocial requirements and providing support during direct patient interactions in professional practice. The distress was increasing due to the indefinite confinement of huge portions of the population at home and variations in the stay-at-home orders given by different jurisdictions. Healthcare workers responsible for combating the pandemic suffer from increased infection risk and a higher probability of mental issues (Giorgi et al., 2020). Due to insufficient personal protective equipment, exhaustion, frustration, burnout, isolation, adverse patient emotion, and separation from families, healthcare personnel are more at risk for psychological side effects than the general.
A thorough trauma treatment should consider the unique psychosocial environment in which the response to trauma is rooted. Human reaction to trauma is modulated by socio-cultural narratives, which include communitarian ideas like philosophies or religions, individual life purpose, social support, or provision for basic needs (Braquehais et al., 2020). Consequently, recent studies point to the need to deal with the psychological effects of the pandemic with fewer measures and resources than those used to fight the virus itself.
Possible Health Outcomes
Despite the risk to both themselves and their relatives, healthcare workers have opted to cure people who are infected with COVID-19. The threat level to their mental health increased with each unexpected life-threatening situation or uncertainty. Physicians have previously been linked to a higher risk of acquiring stress, depression, and trauma-like symptoms, such as fear of contamination, personal past medical history, impaired capacity to provide care for relatives, and difficult decision-making. These causes can lead to varying degrees of psychological pressure that can lead to emotions like stress, anger, physical and mental exhaustion, and despair (Ornell et al., 2020). The results of work stress may be feelings of loneliness and powerlessness. Consequently, health workers are particularly susceptible to psychological distress due to work overload and stress-related symptoms, which raises the risk of acquiring psychiatric disorders.
Health personnel who assisted patients in an outbreak were reported to be experiencing particular psychological issues, such as burnout syndrome and vicarious trauma. The epidemic’s severity might cause emotional tiredness, even though this condition is typically created longitudinally and is associated with organizational conditions (such as institutional atmosphere, moral harassment, heavy workload, and low pay, among others). Vicarious trauma, also known as secondary traumatic stress, is a phenomenon that occurs when prolonged exposure causes medical professionals to exhibit symptoms that are comparable to those of the patients. The signs of collateral trauma include decreased appetite, fatigue, distress, insomnia, attention problems, and irritation (Ornell et al., 2020). Additionally, stigmatization may be experienced by medical workers who work closely with patients who have diseases with a high risk of spreading. Moral distress prohibits healthcare professionals from making optimal decisions and may result in the healthcare system’s failure.
The gratitude to the medical workers should not be linked to the pandemics existence as the influence on their mental health may be irrevocable. In terms of the pandemic’s long-term effects on mental health, it is known that posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and alcohol or drug abuse were noted by medical staff months and decades after the SARS outbreak, mostly in people who ha ad high-risk exposure or needed to be quarantined. However, the impact was less noticeable among people who accepted vulnerability during the outbreak out of a sense of altruism or who had more social support (Braquehais, 2020). Therefore, a role of paramount importance belongs to the treatment approaches used to cure psychological traumas.
Reducing Strategies for Risk, Vulnerability and Health Effects
A major concern is that healthcare workers are only willing to seek assistance when necessary. Self-care, denial, rationalization, or minimizing may be the first lines of defense to deal with stressful events. Still, they might prevent people from getting the proper help when a mental condition develops. This trend may have shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Internal psychological constraints to seeking professional assistance may be lowered thanks to the social respect physicians are obtaining during this pandemic and the widespread dissemination of their testimony (Braquehais et al., 2020). Therefore, as a short-time intervention, it is necessary to introduce additional days of rest and fill in short questionnaires to quickly detect the first manifestations of mental consequences (Cullen et al., 2020). However, stigmatizing views could still exist concerning serious mental illnesses, which is the primary reason for creating a whole system of psychological assistance for medical workers.
Regular mental health screenings and monitoring are necessary as a long-term intervention for health personnel who come into touch with infected patients, especially regarding depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation. An environment of solidarity and empathic cooperation must be created among healthcare teams to promote communication and allow for the expression of sentiments and symptoms like burnout and emotional tiredness. For the units to recognize post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression signs in their peers and themselves early on, it is also necessary to provide psychoeducation and counseling (Ornell et al., 2020). The other intervention of paramount importance is that all healthcare practitioners need access to multidisciplinary mental health services, which institutions and collectives must provide (Hall, 2020). These programs should include a confidential employee hotline, drop-in counseling, telemedicine psychotherapy, psychotropic drugs, and crisis intercession. Therefore, the need for constant checks of the psychological state of doctors is solved not only through self-analysis but also through the establishment of obligations in medical institutions and teams to monitor the condition of their employees and colleagues.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers’ mental health is universal, as it applies to every employee, as confirmed by current research, and has dangerous and hard-to-eliminate consequences. Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic affected society’s recognition and appreciation of medical authority. Still, this price was potential and actual infection with the virus and a whole spectrum of emotional suffering. Thus, healthcare institutions and psychologists must create and implement strategies to reduce the risks of contamination, vulnerability, and mental health consequences of pandemics, using the example of the fight against the coronavirus.
References
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