Incidence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after COVID-19 among Medical Staff of Masih Daneshvari Hospital

The fast outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 in the world, has put great physical and psychological pressure on medical staff of hospitals occupied in treating the COVID-19. It would cause the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among them. Thus, the current study aimed to determine the incidence of PTSD in hospital staff who were involved in treatment of COVID-19 patients.

The research method was descriptive. 311 nurse and clinical assistants in Masih Daneshvari Hospital were included in the study. The demographic information questionnaire and Mississippi PTSD scale were applied for providing data. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used for data analyzing.

69.3% of the sample groups were nurse and 30.7% of them were clinical assistant. 13.3% of themselves or their immediate family members, had been infected by COVID-19.The mean score of PTSD in all participants was critical. There was a significant difference between various age groups in terms of depression, and also between people with various marital status in re-experience, alexithymia and PTSD scores (P<0.05).

The existence of PTSD among medical staff should be a major concern for Ministry of Health in order to protect the mental health of population. If not so, the pandemic of COVID-19 would result in serious psychological problems, especially in the frontline healthcare staff.