COVID‐19 pandemic and health anxiety among nurses of intensive care units

• Published in: International Journal of Mental Health Nursing Vol. 29; no. 6; pp. 1275 - 1277
• Main Authors: Mokhtari, Razieh, Moayedi, Siamak, Golitaleb, Mohamad
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Australia John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2020; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Anxiety; Anxiety - epidemiology; Anxiety - etiology; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronavirus Infections - psychology; COVID-19; Critical Care Nursing; Humans; Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional - prevention & control; Intensive care; Letter To The Editor; Letters To The Editor; Nurses; Occupational stress; Occupational Stress - epidemiology; Occupational Stress - etiology; Pandemics; Pandemics - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - psychology
• ISSN: 1445-8330; 1447-0349
• DOI: 10.1111/inm.12800

[...]these nurses are exposed to the highest levels of stress during this pandemic (Jamshidian, Kiani et al. 2018). In Italy, 10% of health personnel contracted and 3% of them died of the disease (Herron, Hay‐David et al. 2020).Considering that pandemics of communicable diseases such as COVID‐19 may persist for months, it is necessary for nurses, especially nurses in ICUs, to have a long‐term strategy for wellness (Shanafelt, Ripp et al. 2020). [...]immediate interventions are necessary to strengthen psychological resilience and increase the capacity of healthcare systems (Pappa, Ntella et al. 2020; Shanafelt, Ripp et al. 2020; Shen, Zou et al. 2020). [...]the impact of the current crisis on the mental health of nursing staff is likely to be unprecedented (Pappa, Ntella et al. 2020). [...]appropriate, timely and targeted interventions are needed to improve our ICU nurses’ mental health status, reduce persistent psychological complications such as post‐traumatic stress disorder, a common complication of previous epidemics such as SARS and MERS (Brug, Aro et al. 2004; Hall, Tokars et al. 2014).