


Volume 20 No 21 (2022)
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Psychological Impact on Healthcare Workers of Past SARS and Current COVID-19 Outbreak: A Global Review
Nuzhat Ara , Vela D Desai , Arunoday Kumar , Suchetana Basak , Gracy Panmei
Abstract
The emergence of novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in
Wuhan, China during late 2019 spread quickly and creating international emergency and
tremendous challenges for healthcare workers (HCWs) including dental and oral healthcare
professionals. The brisk spread of this new viral disease forced HCWs to suffer from
different types of stress including mortality and morbidity, delayed patient dealing, scarcity
of complete personal protective equipment (PPE), and fear of being COVID-19 virus target
and carriers to their family members. The dental and oral HCWs were also advised to apply
mobility restrictions and social distancing measures. All of a sudden, most of the regular
medical check-ups including dental clinic appointments were cancelled, reducing the number
of patients flow. The abrupt cancellation of appointments put a sudden break on medical
profession including dental practice. Different scales like progression of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD), Chinese Health Questionnaire-12 (CHd-12), Davidson Trauma ScaleChinese (DTS-C), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Impact of Event Scale (IES),
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) etc. have been devised in different countries to assess the
overall mental health status. The reports from earlier SARS outbreak in 2007 had also put a
psychological impact on HCWs but least has been learned from this out break. The reports
from previous Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreaks and early COVID-19
pandemic have a considerable negative impact (short and long-term) on mental status of
HCWs. Different types of negative impacts on mental health like depression, anxiety, sleep
disorders and distress were reported in HCWs during COVID-19 pandemic. The current
COVID-19 pandemic given a broader understanding of how much, how far and how fast an
outbreak can occur and affect HCWs psychologically. In this review, authors summarize the
impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the psychology of HCWs, as reported from different
countries.
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