Psychological impact of COVID-19 on radiology: Emotional wellbeing versus psychological burnout

Abstract

While the COVID-19 pandemics seem to be crippling the global health care system, it has caused enormous uncertainty and panic in the lives of the health care professionals with a significant impact on their productivity. A significant proportion of these affected health care individuals comprise of the working staff belonging to the Radiology department. Although the main focus of all health care individuals has constantly been to reduce the number of new cases by minimal transmission, save lives of the infected patients by findings effective cure and carry out meticulous research to develop preventive vaccine, we have been unknowingly giving very little consideration to critical issues relating to the psychological well-being of the front liners. It is of utmost necessity that the psychological impact of this pandemic needs to be recognized and dealt with, in a timely fashion. While planning interventions to fight the pandemic, mental health issues must not be sidelined instead considered pragmatically. The radiology departments must come up with a mitigation plan to combat the subsequent short-term and long-term adverse effects of COVID-19 on mental well-being of their staff members. This article discusses the psychological impact of COVID-19 on the radiology department.

Keywords

COVID-19 - health care workers - psychological - radiographers - radiologist - residents - stress

Publication History

Received: 10 July 2020

Accepted: 12 September 2020

Article published online:
13 July 2021

• References

• 1 Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/17/opinions/covid-19-worldwide-response-metzl/index.html. [Last accessed on 2020 July 10].
• 2 Fessell D, Cherniss C. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and beyond: Micropractices for burnout prevention and emotional wellness. J Am Coll Radiol 2020; 17: 746-8
• 3 Fessell D, Garver K, Lexa F. Navigating “down time” during COVID-19. Acad Radiol 2020; 27: 862-3
• 4 Restauri N, SheridanMD AD. Burnout and PTSD in the COVID-19 pandemic: Intersection, impact and interventions. J Am Coll Radiol 2020; 17: 921-6
• 5 Massat MB. Radiology matters: Staying focused on radiologist wellness.
• 6 Patel RS, Bachu R, Adikey A, Malik M, Shah M. Factors related to physician burnout and its consequences: A review. Behav Sci (Basel) 2018; 8: 98
• 7 Lee SM, Kang WS, Cho AR, Kim T, Park JK. Psychological impact of the 2015 MERS outbreak on hospital workers and quarantined hemodialysis patients. Compr Psychiatry 2018; 87: 123-7
• 8 Phua DH, Tang HK, Tham KY. Coping responses of emergency physicians and nurses to the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. Acad Emerg Med 2005; 12: 322-8
• 9 Liu N, Zhang F, Wei C, Jia Y, Shang Z, Sun L. et al. Prevalence and predictors of PTSS during COVID-19 outbreak in China hardest-hit areas: Gender differences matter. Psychiatry Res 2020:112921.
• 10 Robbins JB, England E, Patel MD, DeBenedectis CM, Sarkany DS, Heitkamp DE. et al. COVID-19 Impact on well-being and education in radiology residencies: A survey of the association of program directors in radiology. Acad Radiol 2020; 27: 1162-72
• 11 Wu P, Fang Y, Guan Z, Fan B, Kong J, Yao Z. et al. The psychological impact of the SARS epidemic on hospital employees in China: Exposure, risk perception, and altruistic acceptance of risk. Can J Psychiatry 2009; 54: 302-11
• 12 Unadkat S, Farquhar M. Doctors’ wellbeing: Self-care during the covid-19 pandemic. BMJ 2020; 368: m1150
• 13 Mohakud S, Ranjan A, Naik S, Deep N. COVID-19 preparedness for portable x-rays in an Indian hospital–Safety of the radiographers, the frontline warriors. Radiography 2020; 26: 270-7
• 14 Hogg P, Holmes K, McNulty J, Newman D, Keene D, Beardmore C. Covid-19: Free resources to support radiographers. Radiography (Lond.) 2020; 26: 189-91
• 15 Available from: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2852900111499077/about/.[Last accessed on 2020 Jul 10].