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. 2021 Apr 9;71(2):62-67.
doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqaa220.

Mental health of staff working in intensive care during Covid-19

N Greenberg  1   2 , D Weston  3 , C Hall  3 , T Caulfield  4 , V Williamson  1   5 , K Fong  6   7
Affiliations

Mental health of staff working in intensive care during Covid-19

N Greenberg et al. Occup Med (Lond). .

Abstract

Background: Staff working in intensive care units (ICUs) have faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic which have the potential to adversely affect their mental health.

Aims: To identify the rates of probable mental health disorder in staff working in ICUs in nine English hospitals during June and July 2020.

Methods: An anonymized brief web-based survey comprising standardized questionnaires examining depression, anxiety symptoms, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), well-being and alcohol use was administered to staff.

Results: Seven hundred and nine participants completed the surveys comprising 291 (41%) doctors, 344 (49%) nurses and 74 (10%) other healthcare staff. Over half (59%) reported good well-being; however, 45% met the threshold for probable clinical significance on at least one of the following measures: severe depression (6%), PTSD (40%), severe anxiety (11%) or problem drinking (7%). Thirteen per cent of respondents reported frequent thoughts of being better off dead, or of hurting themselves in the past 2 weeks. Within the sample used in this study, we found that doctors reported better mental health than nurses across a range of measures.

Conclusions: We found substantial rates of probable mental health disorders, and thoughts of self-harm, amongst ICU staff; these difficulties were especially prevalent in nurses. Whilst further work is needed to better understand the real level of clinical need amongst ICU staff, these results indicate the need for a national strategy to protect the mental health, and decrease the risk of functional impairment, of ICU staff whilst they carry out their essential work during COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; PTSD; doctors; intensive care; mental health; nurses; self-harm.

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Comment in

  • The health of intensive care unit teams: moving beyond a trauma focus.
    Beadman M, Highfield J, Wade D, Ford D, Scott Z, Wood F. Beadman M, et al. Occup Med (Lond). 2021 Nov 6;71(8):386-387. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqab135. Occup Med (Lond). 2021. PMID: 34741458 No abstract available.
  • Reply.
    Greenberg N, Weston D, Hall C, Caulfield T, Williamson V, Fong K. Greenberg N, et al. Occup Med (Lond). 2021 Nov 6;71(8):387-388. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqab136. Occup Med (Lond). 2021. PMID: 34741459 No abstract available.

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