Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare Workers: A Systematic Review

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many health workers working in hospitals experienced psychological problems and stress while serving patients because of their high risk of contracting COVID-19. This study explores the main findings from the literature examining the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers. This study uses a systematic review method using the PRISMA statement. A systematic search was carried out to obtain relevant articles from three databases, namely S and Google Scholar, published in the English version. The investigation of articles started from identifying, sorting, checking the feasibility and eligibility of the studies and including qualitative synthesis. This article's inclusion criteria were English-language articles and full text on studies assessing the psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers. There were 1429 articles found and eleven studies of which were analyzed, namely ten studies using a cross-sectional design, one study using a retrospective cohort design. The psychological impact experienced by health workers included fear of being infected with COVID contracting oneself, friends, and relatives; fear of being alienated by others; fear of being stigmatized by others; worrying about personal and family health; worrying about being quarantined or isolated; fear of close contact with patients at high risk of infection; fear of experiencing high insomnia; fear of experiencing acute stress disorders and psychological stress. The study concluded that health workers serving patients in hospitals face tasks full of pressure, worry, anxiety, and high fear of being infected with COVID 19. Health workers are in dire need of health protection as well as special recovery programs that aim to improve psychological well COVID-19 pandemic. This open access article is under the CC-BY-SA license.