SCCM Resource Library-Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization Among Critical Care Professionals During the COVID Pandemic

Video Transcription

I am a counseling psychologist in Knoxville, Tennessee, and my husband, Paul Branca, is a pulmonary critical care physician at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  In March of 2020, when the pandemic was just getting started, we became very concerned about the impact that this was going to have on the psychological health  of critical care professionals. And we hypothesized that there would be an increase in depression, anxiety, and symptom somatization in those healthcare workers.  So out of that concern, we sent out an email survey, and it went out in April of 2020, and we ended up with 939 total respondents from various backgrounds in critical care medicine.  We used the patient health questionnaire surveys in order to assess depression, anxiety, and somatization, and our results were surprising.  We found that we had very high percentages of healthcare workers who were already experiencing symptomology severe enough to warrant treatment. And remember, this was two years ago,  and so we expect that this has probably worsened since then.  Just to give you an idea of the numbers, we had 24% of our sample experiencing significant symptoms of depression, 31% anxiety, and 22% were experiencing health symptoms  like headache and teeth grinding and stomach upset related to stress.

Video Summary

In March 2020, a counseling psychologist and a pulmonary critical care physician in Knoxville, Tennessee, conducted a survey to understand the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on critical care healthcare workers. The survey included 939 respondents from various backgrounds in critical care medicine. The results were surprising, with high percentages of healthcare workers already experiencing severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization, such as headaches, teeth grinding, and stomach upset. The researchers believe that these numbers have likely worsened since the survey was conducted two years ago.

Asset Subtitle

Professional Development and Education, Administration, Behavioral Health and Well Being, 2022

Asset Caption

INTRODUCTION/HYPOTHESIS: Emotional response among workers in a critical care setting during the pandemic is complicated and not well studied. The general population has a low prevalence of depression, anxiety, and somatization, but we hypothesized that these psychological problems would increase among ICU professionals during the pandemic. METHODS: On April 7, 2020, an email survey was sent to the members of SCCM with a reminder email one week later to those who didn’t respond. Collected information included demographic data, perception of caseload and course of the pandemic, and responses to psychological instruments assessing depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), and symptom somatization (PHQ-15). RESULTS: 939 ICU professionals responded to the survey, 37.2% male, 61.4% female, 1.4% gave another or no response. Self-reporting of COVID experience showed 32.3% had encountered 0-50 COVID cases, 31.1% had encountered 51-200 cases, 12.5% had encountered 201-500 cases, 9.4% had encountered 501-1000 cases, and 13.7% had encountered greater than 1000 COVID cases. Graded responses to the PHQ-9 depression scale showed 44.9% minimal, 31.1% mild, 14.3% moderate, and 9.7% with severe symptoms. Graded responses to the GAD-7 anxiety scale showed 35.5% minimal, 32.9% mild, 16.8% moderate, and 14.8% with severe symptoms. Graded responses to the PHQ-15 Somatization scale showed 39.6% minimal, 38.2% mild, 17.3% moderate, and 4.9% with a severe degree of somatic symptoms. DISCUSSION: A snapshot survey of critical care workers in the April 2020 part of the pandemic showed a high percentage of critical care professionals experienced significant, diagnosable depression, anxiety, or somatic symptoms. With the usual advice that a score of "moderate" or "severe" on any of these scales warrants individual intervention, it must be recognized that this is an alarming degree of mental health impact. Immediate mitigation efforts are needed to preserve the health of our ICU workforce.

Meta Tag

Content Type Presentation

Knowledge Area Professional Development and Education

Knowledge Area Administration

Knowledge Area Behavioral Health and Well Being

Knowledge Level Foundational

Knowledge Level Intermediate

Knowledge Level Advanced

Learning Pathway Behavioral Health and Burnout

Membership Level Select

Tag Depression

Tag COVID-19

Tag Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Tag Psychology and Psychiatry

Tag Staffing

Year 2022

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic

psychological impact

critical care healthcare workers

depression

anxiety

Professional Development and Education

Administration

Behavioral Health and Well Being

COVID-19

Presentation

Select

2022

Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Psychology and Psychiatry

Staffing

Foundational

Intermediate

Advanced

Behavioral Health and Burnout

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