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World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2020; 8(15): 3188-3196
Published online Aug 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i15.3188
Review of possible psychological impacts of COVID-19 on frontline medical staff and reduction strategies
Xiao-Wei Fu, Li-Na Wu, Ling Shan
Xiao-Wei Fu, Ling Shan, Department of Nursing, Lianyungang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Lianyungang 222000, Jiangsu Province, China
Li-Na Wu, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou 221000, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Fu XW wrote the paper and prepared the tables; Wu LN helped write the paper; Shan L designed the outline and coordinated the writing of the paper.
Supported by the Jiangsu Maternal and Child Health Research Project, No. F201766; and the Lianyungang Medical Scientific Project, No. 201722.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ling Shan, Chief Nurse, Department of Nursing, Lianyungang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, No. 669 Qindongmen Street, Haizhou District, Lianyungang 222000, Jiangsu Province, China. shanling6999@163.com
Received: June 5, 2020
Peer-review started: June 5, 2020
First decision: June 19, 2020
Revised: July 3, 2020
Accepted: July 23, 2020
Article in press: July 23, 2020
Published online: August 6, 2020
Processing time: 62 Days and 1.4 Hours
Abstract

Like soldiers, frontline medical staff provide a first line of defense and have played a critical role in responses to the outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 in December 2019. It is important to acknowledge the considerable pressure placed on frontline medical staff in the face of a new type of coronavirus that is highly infectious and for which no specific treatment is available. Here, we review the various kinds of psychological problems afflicting frontline medical staff who are combatting the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic. These include anxiety, insomnia, depression, interpersonal difficulties, and post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome. We further present a summary of countermeasures for alleviating these problems based on our findings. These countermeasures include ensuring the provision of adequate protective gear for frontline medical staff, developing timely and clear guidelines, strengthening social support, and providing clear criteria and additional training, focusing on the choice of frontline medical staff. An understanding of the psychological impacts of an epidemic situation and of relevant countermeasures will contribute to reducing the psychological pressures on frontline medical staff. Consequently, they will be able to cope better with outbreaks of infectious diseases in the future, to reduce the psychological pressure of the front-line medical staff, and to improve the treatment level.

Keywords: Frontline medical staff; Psychological impacts; Epidemic diseases; Post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome; Adequate protective gear

Core tip: The paper summarizes the psychological impact of epidemic diseases on frontline medical staff, raises possible psychological impact of coronavirus disease-2019 on frontline medical workers, and concludes with targeted solutions, so as to make adequate preparations for better handling of outbreaks of epidemic diseases in the future.