Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

February 20, 2020

Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak

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  • Mental health services for healthcare workers were quickly established for 5 large healthcare organizations in China.  These included psychologist teams and online support.  However, medical staff refused to participate in the psychological resources offered, explaining that they did not meet their actual needs. These included feeling more exhausted than worried, not wanting families to worry, stress over a lack of knowledge on how to deal with uncooperative patients, and worry about lack of PPE.
    • The healthcare organizations adapted to meet these needs, offering: a quiet and removed area where staff could get away and rest, additional PPE and training in how to use PPE, security staff to deal with uncooperative patients, leisure activities, teaching relaxation tools, having counselors available as needed

Chen et al. (Feb 18, 2020). Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30078-X