Personnel Well-Being in the Helsinki University Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Prospective Cohort Study

Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and HUS Helsinki University Hospital, and Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, 00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland

HUS Helsinki University Hospital, Nursing Research Center and University of Helsinki, 00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland

Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Acute Psychiatry and Consultations, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, 00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland

⁴

HUS Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, 00029 HUS Helsinki, Finland

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Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

⁶

Department of Public Health Solutions, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Mental Health Unit, 00271 Helsinki, Finland

⁷

Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33100 Tampere, Finland

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

Equal contribution.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(21), 7905; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217905

Received: 25 September 2020 / Revised: 23 October 2020 / Accepted: 25 October 2020 / Published: 28 October 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe: Response to Challenges)

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Abstract

In March 2020, strict measures took place in Finland to limit the COVID-19 pandemic. Majority of Finnish COVID-19 patients have been located in southern Finland and consequently cared for at the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS) Helsinki University Hospital. During the pandemic, HUS personnel’s psychological symptoms are followed via an electronic survey, which also delivers information on psychosocial support services. In June 2020, the baseline survey was sent to 25,494 HUS employees, 4804 (19%) of whom answered; altogether, 62.4% of the respondents were nursing staff and 8.9% were medical doctors. While the follow-up continues for a year and a half, this report shares the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents and the first results of psychological symptoms from our baseline survey. Out of those who were directly involved in the pandemic patient care, 43.4% reported potentially traumatic COVID-19 pandemic-related events (PTEs) vs. 21.8% among the others (p < 0.001). While over a half of the personnel were asymptomatic, a group of respondents reported PTEs and concurrent depression, insomnia, and anxiety symptoms. This highlights the need to ensure appropriate psychosocial support services to all traumatized personnel; especially, nursing staff may require attention. View Full-Text

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Finland; healthcare personnel; psychological distress; post-traumatic stress disorder

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Haravuori, H.; Junttila, K.; Haapa, T.; Tuisku, K.; Kujala, A.; Rosenström, T.; Suvisaari, J.; Pukkala, E.; Laukkala, T.; Jylhä, P. Personnel Well-Being in the Helsinki University Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Prospective Cohort Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 7905. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217905

AMA Style

Haravuori H, Junttila K, Haapa T, Tuisku K, Kujala A, Rosenström T, Suvisaari J, Pukkala E, Laukkala T, Jylhä P. Personnel Well-Being in the Helsinki University Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Prospective Cohort Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(21):7905. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217905

Chicago/Turabian Style

Haravuori, Henna, Kristiina Junttila, Toni Haapa, Katinka Tuisku, Anne Kujala, Tom Rosenström, Jaana Suvisaari, Eero Pukkala, Tanja Laukkala, and Pekka Jylhä. 2020. "Personnel Well-Being in the Helsinki University Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Prospective Cohort Study" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 21: 7905. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17217905

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Personnel Well-Being in the Helsinki University Hospital during the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Prospective Cohort Study

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