Great mental impact on ICU nurses after first peak of corona - First results of national research Radboudumc and Erasmus MC

1 October 2020

Working in intensive care units during the first peak of the corona crisis has an enormous impact on the mental state of Dutch ICU nurses. Some of them indicate that they suffer from anxiety complaints, depressive feelings and/or post-traumatic stress-related complaints. In addition, there is a high risk of dropping out in the next crisis. This is shown by the first results of a study conducted by Radboudumc and Erasmus MC in collaboration with the professional association for IC nurses V&VN-IC and the Dutch Association for Intensive Care (NVIC).

How are you doing now? That's what the researchers wanted to find out. Over 700 IC nurses from all over the Netherlands took part in the questionnaire survey. The results show that working long hours under high pressure during the first peak of the corona crisis had, and still has, many consequences for the ICU nurses. The level of stress was more than three times higher than in 'normal' times. Almost 30% have symptoms of anxiety, 20% have symptoms of depression and over 20% clearly suffer from post-traumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms.

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