The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among the medical-sanitary staff, a new challenge

Abstract

The general perception is that the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the biggest challenges for the health system. While touching every aspect of life, the COVID-19 pandemic has requested a prompt response from the health system and other structures and coordination systems that intervene in daily activity. The data presented were obtained following the application of a questionnaire to the average care staff of the Pascani Municipal Emergency Hospital, which monitored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their professional activity and emotional state. The results revealed not only feelings of panic, fear, and worry but also determination and stubbornness in the fight against the disease. The results of the study indicated the adherence of the medical staff to initiatives that promote a holistic approach to the patient, addressing all the patient’s sufferings (physical, psychological, social, or spiritual), as well as finding new ways of relieving, treating, and healing them. The therapeutic act was difficult to fulfill because it had to consider the COVID-19 protocols, modified in dynamics, and applied to patients and staff. The use of complete protective equipment, as well as other adjustments to the working conditions, were perceived as an additional effort. To achieve this desideratum, teamwork, continuous medical education of the medical staff, and efficient communication between the medical assistant-nurse team with the patient and their relatives were of particular importance. Clear, transparent communication on the patient’s actual clinical condition and prognosis to his family members is essential to avoid and overcome possible conflictual situations.

Stress Factors for the Paediatric and Adult Palliative Care Multidisciplinary Team and Workplace Wellbeing Solutions

“…The fact that 36.7% of respondents believe that working in paediatric palliative care affects their emotional balance and 12.2% report that it affects their personal life, including relationships and family life, while 61.2% say it influences their own outlook on life, shows the multiple dimensions of stress and burnout in this field. The impact on psychological stability may be the result of exposure to patient suffering and pain [17,46,48,49], difficult emotional situations [20,25,27,31,35,36,49], and the pressure to provide high-quality care [28,29,38,39]. The effects on personal life can be related to the high demands of work, which can lead to a lack of time and energy for family and personal relationships.…”

“…This is consistent with the literature. Causes of moral distress related to the pandemic included patient-related factors (patients not receiving requested treatments due to shortages), healthcare worker-related factors (the tension between working in the healthcare system and the possibility of infecting loved ones, sickness, and absence from work), institutional factors (delays in treatment), and public health policy and directiverelated factors (the impact of government policy directives on an individual's ability to work) [36,37,[39][40][41]44,46,47].…”

“…We developed our questionnaire based on our knowledge of the Romanian context [52,53] and the results of the studies in the literature on the causes and effects of stress perceived by palliative healthcare professionals at work [4,9,14,[17][18][19][20][22][23][24]27,28,30,39,46] (Table 1), the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress and burnout in palliative care [36,37,39,[46][47][48], and expectations and solutions for improving the workplace [4,14,18,[34][35][36]49,50,55,[57][58][59]. All this formed the theoretical basis of this study and contributed to the identification of the issues, the development of the hypothesis and the items of the questionnaire, and the overall aim of the research.…”

“…The therapeutic protocol was difficult to implement because it had to take into account COVID-19 procedures, which were dynamically modified and applied to patients and staff. The use of full protective equipment and other adjustments to working conditions were perceived as an additional burden [39]. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the impairment of work capacity due to employee illness had a negative impact on professional activity.…”