The Psychosocial Impact of Treating Patients with COVID-19 on Psychiatry Residents in a Community Hospital: a Qualitative Study

Objective The authors explored the experiences of psychiatry residents caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic on a medical unit. Methods From June 2020 through December 2020, structured, individual interviews were conducted with psychiatry residents deployed to internal medicine wards in a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Academic psychiatry 2023-06, Vol.47 (3), p.251-257
Main Authors: Obele, Marusa, Mahmoudzadeh, Samaan, Parrill, Allison, Ayyanar, Sivaranjani, Anuniru, Oluchi, Sekhri, Shiana, Bangar, Rahul, Korie, Ijendu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Anxiety
Attrition (Research Studies)
Authors
Burnout, Professional
Coding
Community Relations
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - mortality
COVID-19 - therapy
COVID-19 and Psychiatry Education
Data analysis
Demographics
Empirical Report
Family (Sociological Unit)
Fear
Female
Health care
Health Services
Hospital Administration
Hospitals
Hospitals, Community
Humans
Individual Characteristics
Inpatients
Internal Medicine
Internship and Residency
Interpersonal Relationship
Interviews
Interviews as Topic
Learning curves
Male
Medical Education
Medical Services
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental Disorders
Middle Aged
Mortality
Mortality Rate
Pandemics
Patients
Personal Protective Equipment
Phenomenology
Physicians
Physicians - psychology
Psychiatry
Qualitative Research
Safety
Self-Help Groups
Transcripts (Written Records)
Uncertainty
Work Environment
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Description
Summary:Objective The authors explored the experiences of psychiatry residents caring for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic on a medical unit. Methods From June 2020 through December 2020, structured, individual interviews were conducted with psychiatry residents deployed to internal medicine wards in a community hospital to provide medical care to COVID-19 patients for greater than or equal to 1 week. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analytical methods. Results Psychiatry residents ( n  = 16) were interviewed individually for approximately 45 min each. During the interviews, many residents described emotions of fear, anxiety, uncertainty, lack of preparedness, and difficulty coping with high patient mortality rates. Many of the residents expressed concerns regarding insufficient personal protective equipment, with the subsequent worries of their own viral exposure and transmission to loved ones. Multiple residents expressed feeling ill-equipped to care for COVID-19 patients, in some cases stating that utilizing their expertise in mental health would have better addressed the mental health needs of colleagues and patients’ families. Participants also described the benefits of processing emotions during supportive group sessions with their program director. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic represents a public health crisis with potential negative impacts on patient care, professionalism, and physicians’ well-being and safety. The psychiatry residents and fellows described the overwhelmingly negative impact on their training. The knowledge gained from this study will help establish the role of the psychiatrist not only in future crises but in healthcare as a whole.
ISSN:1042-9670
1545-7230
DOI:10.1007/s40596-023-01763-z