LONDON (Reuters) – Nearly half of the staff working in intensive care units (ICUs) in England in the COVID-19 pandemic have severe anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, some of whom are reported to have died better. in a study published Wednesday.
Many nurses and ICU doctors meet the clinical threshold for PTSD, anxiety, or alcohol problems, and the symptoms are so severe that some have reported thinking about self-harm or suicide.
Such extremely poor mental health among ICU staff caring for critically ill and dying COVID-19 patients is likely to affect their ability to work effectively and impair their quality of life, said the study’s researchers.
More than 81,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the UK, the fifth largest official death toll in the global pandemic.
More than 3 million people in the UK have tested positive for COVID-19 and the government says hospitals and intensive care units are on the verge of being overwhelmed.
The pressure on ICU staff – who work with very sick patients for long periods of time in areas where the risk of COVID-19 exposure is high and where the lack of staff and equipment poses problems on a daily basis – has been particularly high.
“The high mortality rate among COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care, together with communication difficulties and providing adequate support at the end of patients’ lives … is very likely to have been extremely difficult stressors for all staff who works in intensive care, ”said Neil Greenberg, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, who led the research.
The study, published in the journal Occupational Health, was conducted in June and July – before the UK began to face the latest rise in infections.
Of the more than 700 healthcare workers in nine ICUs in England, 45% were found to have a probable clinical significance threshold for at least one of the four serious mental health disorders: severe depression (6%), PTSD (40%). %), severe anxiety (11%) or problem drink (7%).
Most worryingly, the researchers said, more than one in eight of those in the study reported frequent thoughts of self-harm or suicide – such as the thought of being better dead or injured – in the past two weeks. .
The findings “highlight the potential profound impact that COVID-19 has had on the mental health of staff in the UK,” said Greenberg, and point to an urgent need for mental health services to be immediately accessible to all health workers.
Reported by Kate Kelland, edited by Timothy Heritage