Psychological effects of COVi̇D-19 on healthcare workers in pandemic and NON-pandemic units

Introduction and Aim: Covid-19, which emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019, was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. Long shifts in pandemic services, increased risk of contact, fear of infecting relatives, and high mortality of the epidemic have increased stress in healthcare workers and caused physical and psychological problems. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the psychological effects of Covid-19 in healthcare workers. Material and Method: The universe and sample of the study consisted of volunteer participants working in 55 non-pandemic and 55 pandemic services in Sivas Numune Hospital. The Coronavirus Anxiety Test (CAS), Insomnia Severity Index and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were administered to the volunteers. Data were recorded using the SPSS-22 program. Significance test of difference between two means or One-Way Analysis of Variance and Pearsonchi-square tests were used as statistical methods. Results: 49.1% of the participants were married and 50.9% were single. While 40% of the participants had children, 60% were not. 6.4% of the participants were high school graduates, 67.3% university graduates, 11.8% postgraduate degrees. Workıng tıme ın the professıon; 0-4 years 48.2%, 5-9 years 21.8%, 10 years and above 30%. 0-8 points on the CAS scale were 93.6% and 9 and above were 6.4%. When the sleep scale was evaluated, it was 52.7% for 0-7 points, 32.7% for 8-14 points, 9.1% for 15-21 points, and 5.5% for 22-28 points. In the Health Survey; 0-4 points 30.9%, 5-9 points 31.8%, 10-14 points 18.2%, 15-19 points 7.3%, 20-27 points 11.8% Results: Severe depression was detected in 85.7% of the employees in the pandemic wards and 14.3% in the non-pandemic wards. Those with a high CAS scale had more sleep problems. Those with a high Insomnia Severity Index were all pandemic service workers. It was determined that the majority of those with moderate to severe depression in the PHQ-9 worked in the pandemic ward. Health workers in the pandemic should be supported psychologically. Keywords: Pandemic, Healthcare Professionals, Covid-19, Depression, Insomnia, Anxiety