Almost half of intensive care unit (ICU) staff are going through post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety thresholds, academics say.
A study by King’s College London shows nearly half of ICU staff are also problem drinking during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The study of ICU healthcare workers, published in Occupational Medicine, shows that over half (59%) reported good wellbeing, however 45 per cent met the threshold for probable clinical significance for at least one of: severe depression (6%), PTSD (40%), severe anxiety (11%) or problem drinking (7%).
More than one in eight respondents (13%) reported frequent thoughts of being better off dead, or of hurting themselves in the past two weeks.
The study’s lead author, Professor Neil Greenberg, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London said that the results show a “substantial burden” of mental health symptoms being reported by ICU staff towards the end of the first wave in July and July 2020.
He said: “The severity of symptoms we identified are highly likely to impair some ICU ability to provide high quality care as well as negatively impacting on their quality of life.
“The high rate of mortality among COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU, coupled with difficulty in communication and providing adequate end-of-life support to patients, and their next of kin because of visiting restrictions, are very likely to have been highly challenging stressors for all staff working in ICUs.”
The research was a collaboration between King’s College London and University College London with important contributions from the Behavioural Science Team, Emergency Response Department Science & Technology, Public Health England and the University of Oxford.
The research was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response at King’s College London in partnership with Public Health England, in collaboration with the University of East Anglia and Newcastle University.
The research is available here.
