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COVID-MENTA: an integrated mental health protection system for pandemic frontline healthcare workers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

I. Szendi Md Habil*
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
O. Bóna
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
T. Jenei
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
C. Kovács
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
Á. Nagy
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
K. Németh-Rácz
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
I.A. Török
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
E. Rudics
Affiliation:
University of Szeged, Department Of Psychiatry, Szeged, Hungary
V. Dalos
Affiliation:
University of Szeged, Department Of Psychiatry, Szeged, Hungary
V. Bilicki
Affiliation:
University of Szeged, Department Of Software Development, Szeged, Hungary
M. Bácsfalvi
Affiliation:
University of Szeged, Department Of Software Development, Szeged, Hungary
K. Téglás
Affiliation:
University of Szeged, Department Of Software Development, Szeged, Hungary
Z. Szabó
Affiliation:
University of Szeged, Department Of Software Development, Szeged, Hungary
E. Kelemen
Affiliation:
Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, University Teaching Hospital, Psychiatry Unit, Kiskunhalas, Hungary
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

At Kiskunhalas Semmelweis Hospital, a special mobile container hospital was set up to care for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first wave of the pandemic.

Objectives

We aimed to create a proactive integrated mental health protection system for the frontline healthcare workers that provides an opportunity for psychophysiological monitoring of stress and crisis during shifts, as well as providing staff with more lasting methods of coping with difficulties.

Methods

From the ascending branch of the second wave, every two weeks on the workers’ rest day, mental helpers initiated a phone call to each employee participating in the program. If it was necessary, we provided psychological counseling, crisis intervention, brief psychotherapy, and psychopharmacotherapy. In addition, self-operated psychophysiological screening devices were used at the frontline work site, which provided an opportunity for continuous telemedicine monitoring.

Results

In our department, three psychologists and three psychiatrists kept in touch with an average of 150 frontline workers per month. Interventions were needed for a total of over 24% in December and January, over 17% in February and March, almost 9% in April, and only 4% in May. Helpers rated an average of two-thirds of these cases as moderate. They faced severe stress 2-3 times a month in sum, and for 2-3 workers needed medication.

Conclusions

Without a mental support system, self-report-based data suggest that nearly half of responders working at the frontline reached the threshold of clinically significant mental syndromes (Greenberg et al, 2021). Using our mental health support system, one-fifth of the workers needed intervention.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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