Background

The global pandemic of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has led to unprecedented psychological stress on health workers (HCWs). We aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 on HCWs in comparison to the stress brought on by the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) epidemic in Saudi Arabia.

Method

Between February 5th and 16th, 2020, 811 health-care workers (HCWs) of a tertiary care teaching hospital were invited to fill a questionnaire regarding concerns and worries about the novel coronavirus pandemic, along with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) Anxiety Severity screening tool.

Results

Out of 582 HCWs who completed the survey questionnaire (response rate of 71.8%), about 40% were exposed previously to MERS-CoV infected or suspected patients during a previous hospital outbreak. While there were no COVID-19 cases reported yet in Saudi Arabia at the time of data collection, still, the anxiety level from COVID-19 was significantly higher than that from MERS-CoV or seasonal influenza: 41.1% were more worried about COVID-19, 41.4% were similarly worried about both MERS-CoV and COVID-19, and 17.5% were more stressed by the previous MERS-CoV hospital outbreak. The most frequent concern was transmitting the infection to family and friends (2.71/5) than to themselves only (2.57/5).

Conclusion

Pandemic and epidemic infectious diseases such as COVID-19 or MERS-CoV impose a significant level of anxiety and stress on healthcare workers who are caring of infected patients, with their main concern being the risk of transmitting the infection to their families or to acquire it themselves. Therefore, optimizing the compliance of healthcare workers with the proper infection prevention and control measures is paramount during the infectious disease outbreak, to ensure their safety, to decrease the likelihood of getting infected or transmitting the infection to others, and consequently to alleviate their psychological stress and anxiety.

中文翻译：

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MERS-CoV流行国家/地区COVID-19大流行对医护人员的心理影响。

背景

2019年的全球冠状病毒疾病大流行（COVID-19）导致卫生工作者（HCW）遭受前所未有的心理压力。与沙特阿拉伯中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）流行所带来的压力相比，我们旨在评估COVID-19对HCW的心理影响。

方法

在2020年2月5日至16日之间，三级教学医院的811名医护人员（HCW）被邀请填写一份有关新型冠状病毒大流行以及广义焦虑症（GAD-7）焦虑程度的担忧和忧虑的问卷筛选工具。

结果

在完成调查问卷的582名HCW中（答复率为71.8％），在之前的医院暴发期间，先前有40％的人曾接触过MERS-CoV感染或可疑患者。尽管在数据收集之时，沙特阿拉伯尚无COVID-19病例报告，但是，COVID-19的焦虑水平明显高于MERS-CoV或季节性流感的焦虑水平：41.1％的患者更担心COVID- 19、41.4％的人同样对MERS-CoV和COVID-19感到担忧，而17.5％的人在以前的MERS-CoV医院暴发中压力更大。最常见的问题是将感染传播给家人和朋友（2.71 / 5），而不是仅仅传播给自己和家人（2.57 / 5）。

结论

大流行和流行性传染病（例如COVID-19或MERS-CoV）对照料被感染患者的医护人员造成极大的焦虑和压力，他们主要担心的是将传染病传播给家人或获得感染的风险他们自己。因此，在传染病暴发期间，最重要的是使医护人员对感染的预防和控制措施的依从性达到最佳状态，以确保他们的安全，减少被感染或传染给他人的可能性，从而减轻他们的心理压力。和焦虑。