Impacto da pandemia sobre a saúde mental e indicativos de disfunção executiva em profissionais da saúde

Abstract

Introduction: The state of Pandemic by the new coronavirus (COVID-19) was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease) is an infectious disease with symptoms that can be a manifestation of mild form, or severe in some cases, showing signs such as: fever, cough, dyspnea, sore throat, anosmia, among others. Pandemics can have social, medical, political, and mental health impacts. During the Pandemic, there has been an increase in the prevalence of mental disorders in the general population and especially in health professionals, with symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress. Objective: To assess the mental health of health professionals who work on the front line in the Intensive Care Unit - COVID-19 ICU and also of General ICU professionals, but who are not specifically for the care of patients with COVID-19. Method: The research was chosen descriptively, with a quantitative approach and cross-sectional, with a convenience sample (non-probabilistic). It was carried out with 50 health professionals who worked in an ICU, 21 from the COVID-19 ICU and 29 from the General ICU, from a teaching hospital in the interior of the state of São Paulo, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A script planned and prepared by the researcher and psychological assessment instruments were used. Results: The participants showed a predominance of minimal symptoms, followed by signs of anxiety and depression levels in both groups, in a resistance phase and with a significant portion of vulnerability to stress over the pressure factor at work and even with a small part with presence of alterations in executive functions. Discussion: They were predominantly female in both groups and mostly belonging to the nursing class, corroborating the literature. In addition, it was attended between this gender and anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: Through this study, a statistically significant difference was also found between dysexecutive signs and those indicative of anxiety and depression, suggesting that the aggravations of these disorders can affect the functioning of cognition.