AUTHOR=Liu Yan , Long Youlin , Cheng Yifan , Guo Qiong , Yang Liu , Lin Yifei , Cao Yu , Ye Lei , Jiang Yan , Li Ka , Tian Kun , A Xiaoming , Sun Cheng , Zhang Fang , Song Xiaoxia , Liao Ga , Huang Jin , Du Liang 

TITLE=Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Nurses in China: A Nationwide Survey During the Outbreak

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.598712

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2020.598712

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> The COVID-19 pandemic is a major public health issue and challenge to health professionals. In similar epidemics, nurses experienced more distress than other providers.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> We surveyed both on-duty nurses caring for infected patients and second-line nurses caring for uninfected patients from Hubei and other provinces throughout China.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> We received completed surveys from 1,364 nurses from 22 provinces: 658 front-line and 706 second-line nurses. The median (IQR) GHQ-28 score of all nurses was 17 (IQR 11–24). The overall incidence of mild-to-moderate distress (GHQ score &gt; 5) was 28%; that for severe distress (GHQ score &gt; 11) was 6%. The incidence of mild-to-moderate distress in the second-line nurses was higher than that in the front-line nurses (31 vs. 25%; OR, 0.74; 95 CI, 0.58–0.94). Living alone (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44–0.86) and feeling supported (OR, 0.82, 95% CI, 0.74–0.90) independently predicted lower anxiety.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> During the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychological problems of all nurses were generally serious. The interviewed second-line nurses face more serious issues than the front-line nurses.</p>