Impact of COVID-19 in nursing professionals: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Nursing work is in increasing demand, becoming strenuous especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the objective of the study was to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of nursing professionals through a systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis, including studies published in 2020 in Web of Science, PubMed and SciELO. Regarding the systematic review, we included 25 studies with a cross-sectional design, from 12 countries. The participants were mostly nurses or nursing teams. Mental impacts such as anxiety, depression, discouragement and a feeling of obligation to work were frequently reported by study participants. The meta-analyses included psychological distress variables, and no association was found between psychological distress and being a frontline healthcare professional (OR 0.94; 95% CI 0.33-2.67). The mental health of nursing professionals has been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The main symptoms presented were anxiety, depression and discouragement, and many nurses felt obliged to work on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic; although they suffer emotional impacts and work overload in health services.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Souza,Tamires Patrícia, Rossetto,Maíra, Almeida,Carlos Podalirio Borges de
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Escola Politécnica de Saúde Joaquim Venâncio 2022
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1981-77462022000100506
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Summary:Abstract Nursing work is in increasing demand, becoming strenuous especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the objective of the study was to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of nursing professionals through a systematic review of the literature with meta-analysis, including studies published in 2020 in Web of Science, PubMed and SciELO. Regarding the systematic review, we included 25 studies with a cross-sectional design, from 12 countries. The participants were mostly nurses or nursing teams. Mental impacts such as anxiety, depression, discouragement and a feeling of obligation to work were frequently reported by study participants. The meta-analyses included psychological distress variables, and no association was found between psychological distress and being a frontline healthcare professional (OR 0.94; 95% CI 0.33-2.67). The mental health of nursing professionals has been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The main symptoms presented were anxiety, depression and discouragement, and many nurses felt obliged to work on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic; although they suffer emotional impacts and work overload in health services.