Physical and Psychosocial Impact on Staff Nurses during COVID-19 Duties at Rajdhani Corona Hospital, SGPGIMS, Lucknow, UP, India

Shabana Khatun, Dr. Dheeraj Khetan, Abdul Quadir, Ambika Singh, Dipti Gupta, Harshita, Vivek Singh Kushwaha

Abstract: Introduction: According to WHO, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. COVID-19 has had adverse physical and psychological impacts on the health care workers especially the staff nurses who were directly providing care to the patient. So, the study aimed to assess the physical and psychosocial impact on staff nurses during COVID-19 duties. Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital in northern India. A total of 165 staff nurses were selected using a purposive sampling technique after fulfilling sample criteria. Data were collected through demographic information tools and interview questionnaires related to physical and psychosocial issues during COVID-19 duties. Result: On assessment, the majority of nursing staff aged between 31-40 years (37.5%), were female (62.22%) staying alone (86.66%). One third of participants had 6-10 years of clinical experience (33.83%). Most of the nursing staff had more than two children (40.60%) and underwent a training program (97.57%) before assigning COVID-19 duties. In addition to this, 8.4% of participants reported health issues such as hypertension, (4.84%) diabetes, and (1.81%) heart disease, respectively. Similarly, the majority of staff nurse reported moderate (72.72%), mild (23.63%) and severe (3.63%) physical and psychosocial discomfort during their clinical duties during the COVID -19 pandemic. However, there was no significant association between the demographic variable with physical and psychosocial complaints. Conclusion: The work environment and availability of resources are major issues of physical and psychosocial discomfort of nursing staff. Hence, healthcare authorities provide adequate resources and a safe working environment to the nursing staff.

Keywords: COVID-19, Impact, Physical and Psychosocial, Staff nursing