Grief experience among ICU staff with loss of family members during COVID-19 outbreak in IRAN: A qualitative study

Abstract

IntroductionThe COVID-19 crisis created a lot of problems in people's lives. Different lifestyles, mental health, communication, rituals and traditions, particularly those involved in mourning, have changed drastically. Medical staff faced numerous critically ill patients every day. This greatly distressed the staff, especially the ICU staff. The end result was considerable amounts of mental distress for the medical staff who lost family members to COVID-19 making the distress even more complex.MethodsWe carried out this qualitative research to study the grief experiences of 12 Iranian ICU staff members at the Rasoul Akram Hospital who had experienced the loss of a family member to the COVID-19 pandemic. We studied the effects of how their own grief experience and how constant exposure to critically ill patients influenced their work with patients. All semi-structured interviews were held in the presence of a faculty member of the psychiatry department of Iran University of Medical Sciences. The interview on the grief experience among ICU staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, consists of 4 issues: Familiarity, Experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, Grieving the loss of a family member and Effects of parallel grief.ResultsWe found five common themes in the result of the experiences of the participants based on content analysis. These consisted of: complex grieving process, new experiences for coping with loss, more empathy for patients, change the meaning of death, and the need for support in work places. Likewise, there were 22 sub themes.ConclusionPaying attention to the details of staff members' life, gender differences, and cultural aspects can give us a better understanding and perception of their grief experiences. This understanding brings out valuable points which can help policy makers pass better laws for the wellbeing of society and people in order to promote leadership in turbulent times.

An investigation of the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder, turnover intention and psychological resilience among medical staff in a public hospital in China during the outbreak of the omicron variant in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022

“…In addition, tolerance of psychological resilience and a high level of literacy were protective factors for PTSD. Focusing on gender differences, culture and other aspects of the lives of staff enable a better understanding and perception of their psychological experiences ( 52 ). Hospital administrators should actively improve the psychological resilience of volunteers, cultivate optimism and resilience, and use psychological resilience as a positive psychological resource to play an active role in reducing the incidence of PTSD and turnover intention among front-line medical staff, which is important for responding to and providing relief during major disasters.…”

Occupational stress and burnout among intensive care unit nurses during the pandemic: A prospective longitudinal study of nurses in COVID and non-COVID units

“…Lastly, this study should be generalized with caution since the data were collected from one hospital and only two ICUs; findings may vary at non-COVID ICUs other than the CVICU studied and other health systems. Burnout is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon including several factors not measured in this study and indeed understudied in general ( 7 ) as well as occupation-external stressors that may affect nurses, such as loss of personal loved ones to the pandemic ( 70 ). It is therefore important to expand and diversify studies of stress and burnout among nurses in a variety of settings.…”

Pandemic management impacts Slovak health care workers’ quality of life during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Regarding personal COVID-19 experience, a mechanism may be that our HCWs felt lonely, angry, guilty and worried about their own health and about the high possibility of spreading the infection, even to their relatives [ 24 , 28 , 29 , 35 , 41 – 43 ]. In a study by Nohesara et al, HCWs expressed feelings of guilt for being possible carriers, due to lack of treatment facilities and vaccinations, and for not having the chance to take care of the loved one [ 44 ]. Also, feelings of public stigmatisation could have played a significant role, as could have financial concerns, depending on who the family breadwinner was [ 13 , 41 ].…”

“…Also, feelings of public stigmatisation could have played a significant role, as could have financial concerns, depending on who the family breadwinner was [ 13 , 41 ]. The high mortality due to coronavirus could have deepened any worries, especially for those working in direct contact with infected patients [ 18 , 44 ]. Regarding COVID-19 experience of their closest or co-workers, they might have experienced their own suffering, increased care provision, mandatory home-isolation following close contact, or no possibility to visit or say a final goodbye to them in fatal cases [ 13 , 24 ].…”