Last update:
31-Jul-2022

OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical and nursing staff, and the management practices that they adopt for managing it appropriately.

METHOD The study was conducted at the General Hospital of Thessaloniki "Hippokratio" from 3.3.2021 to 13.3.2021 with the participation of 200 respondents, all members of the medical and nursing staff of the two neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The research tools used were two questionnaires, the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) of Zung (1971) and the Strategies for Handling Stressful Situations of Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Inductive statistical analysis was then applied to the responses.

RESULTS The study showed that the scores on both the scale of emotional reactions and the scale of physical symptoms had mean and median values less than the mid-point of the range of the scale. The SAS index, which is calculated as the quotient of each participant's score of 80 expressed as a percentage, showed a mean of 45.94% and a median of 43.75%. The scores on the three scales of occupational stress/anxiety were associated with the demographic characteristics of the sample, and specifically, gender, employment status, and educational level. Regarding management, positive reassessment was the most frequently applied coping practice. Analysis of the correlation between work stress/anxiety and coping strategies showed weak positive association in certain categories of strategies.

CONCLUSIONS During the COVID-19 pandemic, health professionals are facing a new challenge that caused significantly stress, especially for female frontline employees, nursing staff and healthcare personnel of a lower educational level. Healthcare unit managers and, in general, chief executive officers should develop targeted preventive and managerial support interventions to support staff members and enhance their productivity during this crisis.

Key words: Coping strategies, COVID-19 pandemic, Healthcare professionals, Occupational stress/anxiety