Psychological Consequences of the Covid-19 Disease in Physicians and Medical Students

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic can have many adverse personal and professional consequences for physicians and medical students, including reduced quality of life and professional performance. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the mental health outcomes, including general health, generalized anxiety disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in physicians and medical students during the prevalence of COVID-19 disease. By using census method, this cross-sectional study was conducted on 132 physicians and medical students working in Rafsanjan hospitals in Iran. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) and Impact of Event Scale (IES) were used to collect data. The data were then analyzed by using SPSS 25 and descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square and multivariate logistic regression). 51.5% of the participants had psychological disorder according to GHQ. 24.2% of the participants had GAD and 33.3% had PTSD. The results showed that only occupation significantly correlated with psychological disorders (P = 0.01). The risk of psychological disorders in medical students was 2.38 times higher compared with physicians (95% Confidence Interval for odds ratio: 1.11- 5.10, P = 0.026). Physicians and medical students are under a lot of stress, at greater risk for mental health disorders, social dysfunction, anxiety and depression during the outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, the psychological state especially among medical students should be improved more carefully.