PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON HEALTH CARE WORKERS

Introduction: Healthcare staffs are first-line fighters who handle COVID-19 patients.They face a high risk of infection every day, and are subject to long and distressingwork hours in order to meet health needs. Aim of work: To evaluate the psychologicalimpact of COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers (HCWs). Materials andMethods: All categories of health care workers in Egypt were invited to participatein the study through sharing the link to online professional groups between 21st Juneto 9th July 2020. The survey included a self-administered- Arabic questionnaireincluding information related to socio- demographic characteristics, medical historyincluding diseases and medications, work characteristics and COVID -19 experienceof the studied participants. The survey also included validated Depression, Anxiety,and Stress Scales (DASS-21) and 7 items work-related burnout Copenhagen BurnoutInventory (CBI). Results: The total number of health care workers who shared in thestudy was 764. There were psychological disorders of varying degrees in the formof depression (41.5%), anxiety (67%), and stress (27.7 %). Working as nurses, age <40 years, changing vacation plans during COVID 19, shift work, less than 10 yearsof experience, single HCWs were the most significant factors for predicting stress.Conclusion: The results concluded that health care workers had varying degrees ofpsychological stress related to the job, particularly those in direct relationships with  COVID-19 patients and those who work in fever and chest hospitals. Psychologicalsupport for promoting mental well-being in health care workers exposed to COVID-19should be implemented immediately, particularly for female, nurses and frontlinehealth care workers.