Survey Finds COVID-19 Takes Heavy Psychological Toll on Health Care Workers

As communities across the world continue to grapple with containing the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and deal with the quickly proliferating number of cases, astudy out of China reports troubling information on the psychological ramifications of COVID-19 on health care workers: A survey of more than 1,200 nurses and physicians working in hospitals in the Wuhan region (where the outbreak originated) and across mainland China revealed that more than 50% reported symptoms of depression, and more than 70% reported symptoms of psychological distress. The findings were published today inJAMA Network Open.“Protecting health care workers is an important component of public health measures for addressing the COVID-19 epidemic. Special interventions to promote mental well-being in health care workers exposed to COVID-19 need to be immediately implemented, with women, nurses, and frontline workers requ iring particular attention,” wrote Jianbo Lai, M.Sc., of Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University in China and colleagues.The researchers surveyed health care workers from 34 hospitals in China with fever clinics or wards for COVID-19 between January 29, 2020, and February 3, 2020. (During this period, the total confirmed cases of COVID-19 exceeded 10,000 in China, according to the authors.) The researchers assessed the survey respondents ’ depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress using the Chinese versions of the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Dis...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: anxiety China coronavirus COVID-19 depression distress frontline workers health care workers insomnia JAMA Network Open Jianbo Lai Joshua Morganstein nurses physicians Roy Perlis Source Type: research