Depression, anxiety, PTSD reported in ICU staff during pandemic
Almost half (45.4%) of intensive care unit (ICU) physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers in England reported a mental disorder during the pandemic, including suicidal thoughts, according to survey results published in
Occupational Medicine yesterday.
Across June and July 2020, 709 ICU healthcare workers from nine ICUs voluntarily completed the 5-minute online survey. The researchers integrated components from the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire (for depression), the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) checklist for civilians, the AUDIT-C score to evaluate drinking habits, and the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS).
Respondents mental health problems included depression (43.3%), anxiety (36.7%), probable PTSD (39.5%), and alcohol abuse (7.2%). Of special concern, 13% of respondents said that, in the past 2 weeks, they thought they might be better off dea