The Impact of Covid-19 on Mental Health Professionals in Oncology Pharmacy

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Since the declaration of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak as pandemic, health professionals have shown an incredible commitment to their patients. The aim of this article is to assess the mental health of health professionals as the most prominent categories involved in the fight against the Sars-Cov-2 virus infection. Material(s) and Method(s) A mental health survey was sent to all ESOP members (.400 individuals in 62 countries) in March 2021 and February 2022. Survey, translated to 9 languages, and distributed online The calculations were performed using Excel (Microsoft Office 2016, Microsoft, Redmond, USA). The answers were analyzed with basic descriptive statistics. Results and discussion: In the February 2022 questionnaire, 70% of respondents said the role of pharmacists changed during the Covid-19 pandemic (23% involved in vaccine administration, 20% emitting of certificate of vaccination and 17% in vaccine prescribing) and 65% reported that there has been a significant increase in cooperation and understanding between different healthcare professionals. The results obtained on the assessment of the mental health and psychophysical wellbeing of the interviewees show that in March 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic, 30% think that mental health is poor, unlike 15.85% of the interviewees in February 2022.The increase in the workload was significant, in both periods and a part of the interviewees think about leaving the profession (15%-2021vs19.92%-2022).We can note that 46% of the interviewees in March 2021 and 39.84% in February 2022 thought they would be comfortable receiving mental health care. Conclusion(s) Significant improvement of overall mental health and wellbeing in the transition from 2021 to 2022 gives us hope that healthcare professionals have learned to cope with the difficulties of the pandemic. Increased collaboration will increase the level of knowledge and further promote the development of an interdisciplinary approach.