2020-05-06: PTSD Assessments in COVID-19 Health Care Workers
Figure 1: Both military and medical personnel are at risk for psychological trauma [ BBC.com ] Health care workers are working in unfamiliar territory in recent times. Hospitals in major cities are overwhelmed by the number of patients they are handling as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There are accounts of people dying in the hospital hallways before help can arrive due to an insufficient amount of space, equipment and staff to handle the influx of patients. Hospital morgues are overflowing. To make matters worse, doctors and nurses have to worry about exposure to COVID-19 and/or possibly exposing their families largely due to a lack of personnel protective equipment (PPE). The current environment is putting health care works at greater risk of developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) . As a matter of fact, hospital personnel have started to report symptoms consistent with those suffering with PTSD from sleep disturbances...