•The current review was done to conduct systematic appraisal of studies on Mental health problems faced by healthcare workers(HCW) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.•The review showed that several ...socio-demographic variables like gender, profession, age, place of work, department of work were associated with increased stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia in HCW.•Certain psychological variables like poor social support, self-efficacy were associated with increased stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia in HCW.
The spread of novel corona virus (COVID-19) across the globe and the associated morbidity and mortality challenged the nations by several means. One such underrecognized and unaddressed area is the mental health issues medical staff develop during the pandemic.
This review aimed to review the literature about mental health problems faced by health care workers (HCW) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Literature search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Embase. All types of articles published in the last 4 months (January 2020-April 2020) which were relevant to the subject of the review were searched. A total of 23 articles were selected by initial screening and 6 articles were included in the final review.
Review of all the 6 articles showed that current research focused on assessing several aspects of mental health affected in HCW due to COVID-19. Several sociodemographic variables like gender, profession, age, place of work, department of work and psychological variables like poor social support, self-efficacy were associated with increased stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia in HCW. There is increasing evidence that suggests that COVID-19 can be an independent risk factor for stress in HCW.
Regular screening of medical personnel involved in treating, diagnosing patients with COVID-19 should be done for evaluating stress, depression and anxiety by using multidisciplinary Psychiatry teams.
Abstract
Background
Coronavirus disease 2019, the third pandemic of 21st century which has brought the whole world under panic, is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ...(SARS-CoV-2), a zoonotic beta coronavirus sharing phylogenetic, genomic similarities with SARS virus and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus.
Specific Concerns
Cancer patients are at double the risk than normal patients since these patients are at immunocompromised state. WHO guidelines advice the patients to plan only emergency hospital visits only till the pandemic persists. Should meet patient/visitors in a well-ventilated room or outdoors and maintain at least 2 m distance between the visitor/patients. It also encourages the patient to refill the prescribed medications in well advance and to stay physically active, if possible.
Discussion
The World Health Organizations’ isolate, trace, test, treat policy needs to be followed to protect these high-risk patients from this global pandemic.
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