Evaluating the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on The Physicians’ Psychological Health; A Scoping Systematic Review

Abstract

Background COVID-19 has endangered healthcare systems at multiple levels worldwide. Published data suggests that moral dilemmas faced during these unprecedented times have placed physicians at the intersections of ethical and unethical considerations. This phenomenon has questioned the physicians' morality and how that has affected their conduct. Our review taps into the spectrum of the transforming optics of patient care during the pandemic and its impact on psychological wellbeing.Methods We adopted the Arksey and O’Malley’s framework, defining research questions, identifying relevant studies, selecting the studies using agreed inclusion and exclusion criteria, charting the data, and summarizing and reporting results. Databases of PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, CINAHL, and PsycInfo were searched using a predefined search string. The retrieved titles and abstracts were reviewed. Later, a detailed full-text analysis of the studies which matched our inclusion criteria was performed. ResultsOur first search identified 875 titles and abstracts. After excluding duplicates, irrelevant, and incomplete titles, we selected 28 studies for further analysis. The total sample size in 28 studies was 15,509 with an average sample size of 637 per study. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used, with cross-sectional surveys being utilized in all 16 quantitative studies and the most common qualitative study design used semi-structured interviews. A number of discrete codes were generated which led to the identification of five main themes; mental health, individual challenges, decision-making, change in patient care, and support services.ConclusionThis scoping review reports an alarming rise in psychological distress, moral injury, cynicism, uncertainty, burnout and grief among physicians during the pandemic. Decision-making and patient care was mostly regulated by rationing, triaging, age, gender and life expectancy. Poor professional controls and institutional services potentially led to physicians’ crumbling wellbeing. This research calls for the remediation of the deteriorating mental health and restoration of medical profession’s advocacy and equity.

Mapping the needs of healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients using the socio-ecological framework: a rapid scoping review

“…Studies also reported that community-level challenges and needs included mostly stigma and discrimination from society while expressing a need for support from community members. Societal stigmatization of HCWs during COVID-19 is not surprising as previous research [2,5,9,15] suggests that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, social prejudice and stigmatization was directed to HCWs as they were exposed to COVID-19 and community members feared that they would contract them COVID-19. Possible interventions at the community-based level might include educational campaigns on the measures required to control the spread of the virus.…”

“…On March 11, 2020, coronavirus disease (COVID- 19) was declared by the World Health Organization [1] as a global pandemic and posed an extremely high risk, burden and negative impact on the physical and mental health especially of those frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) [1][2][3][4]. Healthcare systems in many countries at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic were on a brink of collapse, with HCWs exposed to unprecedented psychological strain [5] and experiencing an increased risk for infection and adverse physical health outcomes [3,4,6].…”

“…Healthcare systems in many countries at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic were on a brink of collapse, with HCWs exposed to unprecedented psychological strain [5] and experiencing an increased risk for infection and adverse physical health outcomes [3,4,6]. Work overload, social isolation, fear of infecting friends and family, physical exhaustion and the constant need for taking ethically difficult decisions were among the factors contributing to deteriorating mental health [2,4,5,7]. HCWs were particularly at risk of experiencing increased symptoms of burnout, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and insomnia [6,[8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Unfolding insights about resilience and its coping strategies among medical academics and healthcare professionals: A thematic qualitative analysis

“…However, recent research has shown that social support and affective well-being are highly in uenced by emotional intelligence (45). In this context, development of faculty enhancement programs (46), seminars and forums for employees well-being and satisfaction (47), support services for academia and physicians by team leaders (48), and interprofessional collaboration (49) are considered to be effective in alleviating work-place based stress.…”