The health-related quality of life in Iranian patients with COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a public health emergency with a high mortality rate and it reduces the patient's Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) significantly. This effect is measured in the current study. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study in Iran, 320 randomly selected treated patients from COVID-19 were studied. To collect the required data, we applied a questionnaire that included socio-demographic factors, clinical characteristics, and questions on the patients' HRQoL. Time trade-off (TTO) approach was used to measure the lost HRQoL attributed to COVID-19. Besides, we applied a two-limit Tobit regression model to determine the effects of the socio-demographic factors on patients' health utility and the visual analogue scale approach was used to estimate the perceived total current health status. RESULTS: The overall mean (SE) and median (IQR) of the health utility values were 0.863 (0.01) and 0.909 (0.21) respectively. These values for the traders (those who were willing to lose a part of their remaining time of life to avoid the disease) were estimated at 0.793 (0.01) and 0.848 (0.17), respectively. The lowest amount of utility value belonged to the elderly (mean (SE) = 0.742 (0.04); median (IQR) = 0.765 (0.42)) and those living in rural areas (mean (SE)) = 0.804 (0.03); median (IQR) = 0.877 (0.30)). The univariate analysis showed that age, place of residence, and household size had a statistically significant effect on health utility. Moreover, findings of the regression analysis indicated that the participants' age and hospitalization status were the key determinants of COVID-19 health utility value. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 is associated with a substantial and measurable decrease in HRQoL. This decline in HRQoL can be directly compared with that induced by systemic health states.

The relationship between mental workload and job performance among Iranian nurses providing care to COVID-19 patients: A cross-sectional study.

AIMS: To evaluate the relationship between mental workload and job performance among nurses providing care to patients with COVID-19, and to explain the factors predicting their performance. BACKGROUND: The increased workload of health care workers in the COVID-19 pandemic affects their job performance, causes medical errors, contributes to patients' mortality and is a major concern for all health care organisations in the world. METHODS: This cross-sectional study recruited 139 nurses selected from the ICUs, infectious disease wards and emergency units of two hospitals in Iran. The NASA-Task Load Index and Paterson's job performance questionnaire were used. RESULTS: Mean scores of mental workload and job performance of the nurses were 67.14 ± 30.53 and 37.37 ± 7.36, respectively. A total of 71.95% and 96.4% of the nurses had high mental workload and job performance levels, respectively. The results indicated a weak positive correlation between mental workload and the mean score of job performance(r = .057). Unlike the mental demand (r = .175, p = .04) and temporal demand (r = .307, p < .001) that had a significant positive correlation with job performance, frustration had a significant negative correlation with job performance (r = -.183, p = .032). The following variables explained 33% of the variance of nurses' job performance: age, gender, type of ward, working shift, experience of providing care to patients with COVID-19 and frustration. CONCLUSION: The nurses' mental workload increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the negative effect of mental workload on the nurses' behaviour and performance, the rise in their job performance and its weak positive correlation with their mental workload should be further addressed. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The present study results support the need for focusing on implementing strategies such as providing social and psychological support to moderate mental workload and improve job performance of nurses who provide care to patients with COVID-19.