The stress, anxiety and depression of nurses in emergency departments of teaching hospitals affiliated to Zanjan University of Medical Sciences and some related factors during the Covid-19 outbreak

The Covid 19 pandemic has put a lot of pressure on health systems. To improve the quality of nursing care in emergency departments, it is important to pay attention to the psychological disorders of nurses that may arise following the covid-19 outbreak. The aim of this study was to determine the status of stress, anxiety, and depression of nurses working in the emergency department of teaching hospitals affiliated to Zanjan University of Medical Sciences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 125 nurses working in the emergency department of teaching hospitals affiliated to Zanjan University of Medical Sciences from January to May2022.Samples were selected by stratified random sampling method. The Cohen Perceived Stress Questionnaire and the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scales were used to collect data. Perceived stress questionnaire was completed self-reportedly by research samples. The Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Scales were completed through an interview, with an appointment in the appropriate environment within half an hour. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including: frequency, mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics including: parametric tests such as Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance with a significance level of 0.05 through software SPSS 22.

According to the results, the mean and standard deviation of age and work experience of nurses participating in the study were 29.98±5.20 and 6.26±4.49 respectively. Most nurses (72.8%) were female. Most (76%) had a history of Covid-19 and 91.2% of nurses reported a history of direct care for patients with Covid-19.The results showed that the mean and standard deviation of stress, anxiety and depression were 24.78±6.34, 13.24±10.5 and 12.73±9.67 respectively. Also, the mean of nurses' depression in the teaching hospitals was statistically significant (P <0.05).The results of Pearson correlation coefficient did not show a significant relationship between stress, anxiety and depression with age, work experience and number of children.

More than half of the emergency nurses studied had significant stress, anxiety, and depression during the Covid-19outbreak. It seems that while developing codified programs to support nurses in crises, effective and planned measures should be taken to prevent and treat the psychological disorders of emergency nurses.