Stress and Bio-Ethical Issues Perceived by Romanian Healthcare Practitioners in the COVID-19 Era

Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on different areas of life, especially in the medical system. Because of the pandemic outbreak, the medical system was remodeled to treat COVID-19 patients in secure conditions. Those changes and restrictive measures have put pressure on individual adaptability. The present study investigated the stress of Romanian healthcare practitioners (HCP) and the capacity to deal with new bio-ethical issues that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methods: We analyzed results from a survey on 97 Romanian HCP in several areas: personal experience with COVID-19, perceived emotional distress, and appraisal of bio-ethical principles respected or infringed during the pandemic in 2020. Results: Unlike previous studies, our respondents reported low to moderate stress levels. In addition, few bio-ethical principles were infringed on a personal level. Tendencies to sacrifice individual autonomy and make decisions affecting patients and co-workers were more prevalent among HCP with over 30 years of experience. Conclusions: Retrospectively, Romanian HCP in our sample appeared to share an embellished view of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Potentially related factors and coping mechanisms with stress are discussed.

Perspectives on Mass Media and Governmental Measures during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in a Romanian Sample of Healthcare Practitioners

“…The years of experience in the medical field varied from 0–5 (22.7%), 5–10 (11.3%), 10–20 (22.7%), 20–30 (27.8%) to over 30 years of experience (15.5%). Approximately half of the sample (51.5%) worked in inpatient settings, and one quarter (25.8%) in outpatient facilities (see [ 38 ]).…”

“…Symptoms of stress related to COVID-19 were analyzed and discussed in a different article. Our sample reported a moderate level of well-being and overall moderate levels of irritability, anxiety, and concern, with seldom relaxation difficulties and anticipation of negative events [ 38 ].…”

“…In addition, they may indicate a certain detachment from the surge of information characteristic to the COVID-19 pandemic or a need to protect themselves against the infodemic. However, the appraisal of mass media information was not significantly related to the general well-being throughout 2020, which may show effective coping mechanisms or strategies to deal with the infodemic while handling new professional challenges [ 38 ].…”

“…We designed a cross-sectional survey with 18 items distributed into five sections: (1) demographic data, (2) personal experience with COVID-19, (3) stress and well-being in 2020, (4) ethical principles, and (5) appraisal of mass media information, governmental measures, vaccination priority, and values. The first survey topics were presented in a different article [ 38 ]. For the present study, we analyzed results of the fifth section.…”

“…For the construction of the questionnaire, the authors [ 38 ] generated an item pool based on the literature and their practical experience. The research team then evaluated the items for face validity and intelligibility and extracted relevant items for each section.…”