Psychological Impact and Workload of COVID-19 on Healthcare Workers in China During the Early Time of the Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to investigate the organization, workload, and psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare workers from the domestic Medical Aid Teams (MATs) sent to Wuhan in China. Methods: Leaders and members of MATs involved in the care for COVID-19 patients were invited to participate in a study by completing 2 separate self-report questionnaires from April 1 to 24, 2020. Results: A total of 9 MAT leaders were involved and 464 valid questionnaires were collected from 140 doctors and 324 nurses. Mean age of the doctors and nurses were 39.34 ± 6.70 (26∼58 years old) and 31.88 ± 5.29 (21∼52 years old), with 72 (15.5%) being males. Nurses were identified as an independent risk factor (HR 1.898; P = 0.001) for a day working time in the multivariate analysis. The proportions of psychological consulting received among nurses were higher than those among doctors (49.7 vs 30.0%, P < 0.001). More than 50% of the anesthetists and emergency doctors who have received psychological consulting thought that it was effective according to self-evaluation. Conclusions: This study focused on healthcare workers’ situation during the early period of the pandemic. Nurses worked longer than doctors. The effectiveness of psychological consulting depends on the physicians’ specialties and the working conditions of the nurses and psychological consulting targeting different specialties need to be improved.