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Physical and Stressful Psychological Impacts of COVID-19 on Healthcare Workers Due to Prolonged Personal Protective Equipment Use: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study
28 Pages Posted: 27 Jan 2023
More...Abstract
Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) caring for COVID-19 inflicted patients are exposed to stressful and traumatic events with potential for severe and sustained adverse mental and physical health consequences. Our aim was to assess the magnitude of physical and mental health outcomes due to the prolonged use of personal protective equipment (PPE) among HCWs treating COVID-19 patients.
Methods: This cross-sectional study assessed the degree of symptoms of stress, anxiety, insomnia, and psychological resilience using the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics (SAVE) scale, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and Resilience Scale (RS), respectively, in Italy between 1st February and 31st March 2022. The physical outcomes reported included vertigo, dyspnea, nausea, micturition desire, retroauricular pain, thirst, discomfort at work, physical fatigue, and thermal stress. The relationships between prolonged PPE use and psychological outcomes and physical discomforts were analyzed using the Generalized Linear Models (GLMs). We calculated the factor mean score and a binary outcome to measure study outcomes.
Findings: We found that 23% of the respondents reported stress symptoms, 33% anxiety, 43% moderate to severe insomnia, and 67% reported moderate to very low resilience. GLMs suggested that older people (>55 years old) are less likely to suffer from stress compared to younger people (< 35 y.o); conversely, HCW aged more than 35 years are more inclined to suffer from insomnia than younger people (<35 y.o). Female HCW reported a lower probability of resilience than males. University HCWs were less likely to report anxiety than those who worked in a community hospital. The odds of suffering from insomnia for social workers was significantly higher than for other HCWs. Female HCW >35 years old, enrolled in training programs for nursing, social work, technical training and other healthcare professionals increased the probability of reported physical discomforts. HCW that worked on non COVID-19 wards and used PPE for the low-medium exposure level, were at lower risk for lasting physical side effects as compared to HCW who worked in high-risk PPE, COVID-19 environments.
Interpretation: The study suggests that frontline HCWs with long PPE exposure directly engaged in the diagnosis, treatment, and care for patients with COVID-19 are at significant risk for lasting physical and psychological harm and distress.
Funding: None to declare.
Declaration of Interest: We declare no competing interests.
Ethical Approval: The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Guglielmo Marconi University of Rome on 3/11/2021.
Keywords: COVID-19, Healthcare workers, Psychological discomfort, Physical discomfort, mental wellness, burnout
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation