Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is a healthcare crisis that has led to unprecedented impact on healthcare services. At the heart of the unparalleled crisis, doctors face several challenges in treating patients with COVID-19. The psychological burden and overall wellness of healthcare workers (HCWs) have received heightened awareness, with research continuing to show high rates of burnout, psychological stress, and suicide. Detrimental effects include high rates of infection and death, excessive financial hardships, stress related to known and particularly unknown information, and fear of uncertainty regarding continued impact. Some researchers focused specifically on COVID-19's impact on HCW sleep. Anxiety and stress were significantly increased, leading to negative impacts on both self-efficacy and sleep. Stress is an important factor in drug use. Efforts should be made to explore the factors that are associated with psychological distress, which may lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression, or provoke suicidal ideation, and efforts should be made to control the factors that are modifiable. There needs to be more awareness among doctors and further long-term studies focusing on their mental health as adverse mental health conditions will further affect them as the disease advances.

Keywords: Anxiety; burnout; doctors; frontline workers; stress.