Mental health of employees in the Unified emergency hospital admission during COVID – 19 pandemics

Uvod: Djelatnici hitne medicine svakodnevno se susreću sa situacijama koje zahtijevaju veliki fizički i psihički napor. Otkako je unazad dvije godine nastupila COVID – 19 pandemija, opseg posla djelatnika hitne medicine se povećao. Pandemija COVID – 19 je isprva predstavljala veliku nepoznanicu za sve te je iziskivala brojne promjene i prilagodbe zdravstvenog sustava čije su se posljedice, osim u poslu, očitovale i na zdravlju, a posebice na mentalnom zdravlju koje u zadnje dvije godine pokazuje brojne promjene. Cilj: Glavni cilj istraživanja je utvrditi postojanost povezanosti mentalnog zdravlja djelatnika u hitnoj medicini i sociodemografskih čimbenika koji utječu na pojavu nesanice, stresa, tjeskobe i depresije. Metode: Istraživanje je provedeno na 124 ispitanika koji rade u Objedinjenom hitnom bolničkom prijemu u Kliničkom bolničkom centru Rijeka. Za ispitivanje korišteni su mjerni instrumenti skala za procjenu nesanice (ISI) te skala za procjenu stresa, depresije i anksioznosti (DASS). Rezultat: Prosječna vrijednost nesanice u ukupnom rezultatu prema ISI skali upućuje na graničnu nesanicu koja je izraženija kod osoba ženskog spola s višim stupnjem obrazovanja te kod nezdravstvenih djelatnika. Ukupni rezultat na DASS skali pokazuje da su stresu, anksioznosti i depresiji najizloženije kod osoba muškog spola i nezdravstvenih djelatnika te da sva tri poremećaja pokazuju porast s obzirom na dob i godine radnog iskustva. Pojedinačno gledano, stres je najprisutniji poremećaj kod svih djelatnika u hitnoj, a najviše vrijednosti se bilježe kod osoba koje imaju završen preddiplomski studij. Anksioznost je najmanje zastupljena u ukupnom rezultatu te je, zajedno s depresijom najprisutnija kod djelatnika sa završenom srednjom školom. Zaključak: Prema dobivenim rezultatima može se zaključiti da je COVID – 19 pandemija ostavila traga na mentalnom zdravlju djelatnika hitne medicine što se najviše očitovalo u graničnoj razini nesanice i stresu, a manje u depresivnosti i anksioznosti. Mentalno zdravlje je ključna komponenta zdravlja te je potrebno prevenirati čimbenike rizika koji ga narušavaju.Introduction: Emergency medicine workers encounter various situations on a daily basis that require great physical and mental effort. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, the workload of emergency medical workers has greatly increased. The COVID-19 pandemic was initially a great unknown to everyone and required numerous changes and adjustments to the health system, the consequences of which, in addition to work, also affected health, especially mental health, which showed many changes in last two years. Objective: The main objective of the study is to determine the persistence of the relationship between the mental health of emergency workers and sociodemographic factors that influence the occurrence of insomnia, stress, anxiety and depression. Methods: The study was conducted on 124 subjects working in the Unified Emergency Hospital Admission of the University Hospital Center Rijeka. The Insomnia Severity Indeks (ISI) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) were used for the study. Results: The average value of insomnia in the total score according to the ISI scale indicates borderline insomnia, which is more pronounced in females with a higher level of education and in non-health workers. The overall score on the DASS scale shows that stress, anxiety and depression are most exposed to males and non-health professionals and that all three disorders show an increase in terms of age and years of work experience. Individually, stress is the most present disorder in all emergency workers, and the highest values are recorded in people who have completed undergraduate studies. Anxiety is the least represented in the overall result and, together with depression, is most present in employees who have completed high school. Conclusion: According to the results, it can be concluded that the COVID - 19 pandemic left a mark on the mental health of emergency medical workers, which was most evident in the borderline level of insomnia and stress, and less in depression and anxiety. Mental health is a key component of health and it is necessary to prevent risk factors that disrupt it