Repercussions of infodemia associated with COVID-19 on the mental health of the elderly in Brazil

The phenomenon called infodemia refers to the increase in the volume of information on a specific topic, which multiplies rapidly in a short period of time, and has stood out in the context of the health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Too much information can trigger feelings of fear, anxiety, stress, and other conditions of mental distress. The study aims to describe the profile of exposure to information about COVID-19 and its repercussions on the mental health of elderly Brazilians. This is a cross-sectional study carried out with 1924 elderly Brazilians. Data were collected through a web-based survey sent to the elderly via social networks and email, from July to October 2020. The results of the descriptive analysis of the data show that most of the elderly were aged between 60 and 69 years (69.02%), female (71.26%), married (53.79%) and white (75.57%). About 21.67% (n = 417) concluded their graduation, 19.75% (380) concluded their specialization and 16.63% (320) concluded their master's or doctoral degrees. Television 862 (44.80%) and social networks 651 (33.84%) were reported as frequent sources of exposure to news or information about COVID-19. Participants indicated that television (46.47%;n = 872), social networks (30.81%;n = 575) and radio (14.48%;251) affected them psychologically and/or physically. Receiving fake news about COVID-19 on television (n = 482;19.8%) and on social media (n = 415;21.5%) mainly resulted in stress and fear. The disseminated information contributes to awareness, but also affects physically and/or psychologically many elderly people, mainly generating fear and stress. © 2022, Centro Nacional de Informacion de Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Simulation training for hospital admission of patients with covid-19: Assessment of nursing professionals

Objective: to assess skills, satisfaction, self-confidence and experience with debriefing of nursing professionals in a simulated scenario for hospital admission of patients with Covid-19. Method: this is a quantitative, observational, cross-sectional study, carried out at a university hospital with nursing professionals. Data were collected in June 2020 using the following instruments: sociodemographic questionnaire, checklist for assessing patient admission skills, the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale and the Debriefing Experience Scale. Subsequently, the collected data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: sixty-two professionals participated, 23 (37.10%) nurses and 39 (62.90%) nursing technicians, with an average age of 36.82 (±6.19). Compliance with patient admission skills ranged from 66.13% to 90.32%. The overall average score on the Student Satisfaction and Self-Confidence in Learning Scale was 4.46 (±0.36) and, on the Debriefing Experience Scale and factors, 4.63 (±0.33). Professionals who updated themselves with scientific articles and protocols obtained a higher average score on both scales (p<0.05). Conclusion: most professionals demonstrated skills on patient admission, satisfaction with learning, self-confidence in the simulated scenario and adequate experience with debriefing. © 2021, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. All rights reserved.