Abstract

CRISIS IN COVID-19: A REVIEW ARTICLE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL CHALLENGES FACED BY HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Suja Kumari S. and Jeevitha J. V.*

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Abstract

It is common that, struggle with stressful situations at the workplace especially in the case of health professionals. Different studies reported stress, anxiety, depression and sleeping difficulties among professionals in health care during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The contributing factors are different but for those who are working in health care may not have the prospect to take adequate rest and sleep, associated with exceedingly elevated work pressure and deficiency of personal protection devices negatively affect mental health. These mental disturbances deleteriously affect each dimension of health among health care professionals if it is left unsupported. This affects work by reducing self-confidence, increasing absenteeism, decreasing work output and increasing staff turnover rates. It is very important that to supply PPE and a well-scheduled duty roaster for proper rest during the phases of disasters such as Covid-19. Literature reviews depicted that, adopting coping strategies like mindfulness techniques, counselling, online support, healthy lifestyle measures and exercise could address the stressful condition to a greater extend. The application of internet services, technology and social media has an important role to curb the issues in future pandemics.

Keywords: Anxiety, Burn-out, Coping strategies, Covid-19, Depression, Health care professionals, Insomnia, Pandemic, Psychological resilience, Stress.