The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological state of healthcare workers around the world: A review

Abdullah Baber

doi:10.5281/zenodo.6501610

Authors

Abdullah Baber Fourth-year Medical Student, Kütahya Health Sciences University Faculty of Medicine, Kütahya, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4108-0791

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6501610

Keywords:

COVID-19, healthcare workers, psychological state, pandemic, mental health

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has negative effects in many areas around the world, as well as causing psychological effects on healthcare workers to a great extent. We want to draw attention to this effect on healthcare workers, who play the largest part in the fight against the pandemic, by compiling surveys about the mental health of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Worldwide we analyzed and interpreted the causes of psycho-social and psycho-biological effects on healthcare workers by collating the existing studies from certain countries. These nine countries include China, USA, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Spain, India, Turkey, and Iran. The reason these countries were chosen is that the numbers of cases were high. Generally, surveys about the psychosocial status of healthcare workers were sorted and carefully analyzed. A comprehensive, systematic database search for manuscripts was performed in Medline, PubMed Central, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science using key words. Psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and insomnia increased significantly in healthcare workers with the prolongation of the pandemic. This data was interpreted by finding national-scale survey-based studies with the literature review method and statistical analysis is presented for a total of nine countries (China, USA, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Spain, India, Turkey, Iran). Healthcare workers need urgent psychological support, and if necessary pharmacological support, and pandemic management requires specific attention for job optimization and personal protective equipment. When the existing studies are examined carefully, the effects and assistance of healthcare professionals are incredibly vital, especially in extraordinary health conditions such as pandemics. Since the breakdown of this mechanism may lead to disaster, it is vital that their psycho-social status is constantly checked and kept stable.

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