PLoS ONE (Jan 2022)

Personal, professional, and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital workers: A cross-sectional survey

  • Kimia Honarmand,
  • Christopher J. Yarnell,
  • Carol Young-Ritchie,
  • Robert Maunder,
  • Fran Priestap,
  • Mohamed Abdalla,
  • Ian M. Ball,
  • John Basmaji,
  • Chaim M. Bell,
  • Lianne Jeffs,
  • Sumesh Shah,
  • Jennifer Chen,
  • Danielle LeBlanc,
  • Jessica Kayitesi,
  • Catherine Eta-Ndu,
  • Sangeeta Mehta

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 2

Abstract

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Objectives We aimed to evaluate the personal, professional, and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospital workers and their perceptions about mitigating strategies. Design Cross-sectional web-based survey consisting of (1) a survey of the personal and professional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and potential mitigation strategies, and (2) two validated psychological instruments (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale [K10] and Impact of Events Scale Revised [IES-R]). Regression analyses were conducted to identify the predictors of workplace stress, psychological distress, and post-traumatic stress. Setting and participants Hospital workers employed at 4 teaching and 8 non-teaching hospitals in Ontario, Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Among 1875 respondents (84% female, 49% frontline workers), 72% feared falling ill, 64% felt their job placed them at great risk of COVID-19 exposure, and 48% felt little control over the risk of infection. Respondents perceived that others avoided them (61%), reported increased workplace stress (80%), workload (66%) and responsibilities (59%), and 44% considered leaving their job. The psychological questionnaires revealed that 25% had at least some psychological distress on the K10, 50% had IES-R scores suggesting clinical concern for post-traumatic stress, and 38% fulfilled criteria for at least one psychological diagnosis. Female gender and feeling at increased risk due to PPE predicted all adverse psychological outcomes. Respondents favoured clear hospital communication (59%), knowing their voice is heard (55%), expressions of appreciation from leadership (55%), having COVID-19 protocols (52%), and food and beverages provided by the hospital (50%). Conclusions Hospital work during the COVID-19 pandemic has had important personal, professional, and psychological impacts. Respondents identified opportunities to better address information, training, and support needs.