Saúde mental dos enfermeiros durante a pandemia da Covid-19: desafios

Abstract

Introduction: Work is an activity through which a person employs his strength, skill and produces his livelihood. In nursing, the worker develops their functions aimed at patient care, spending most of their time with this individual in their recovery. The workplace of nursing professionals is not always a calm or happy environment, on the contrary, the professional has to deal with a tense environment, with pain and death, lack of structure and materials, and lack of professional recognition. Due to these and other factors, the professional in his work can develop various mental illnesses, such as anxiety, Bunout syndrome and depression. The pandemic caused by covid-19 interfered in the nurses' mental health, who lived moments of uncertainty about how they would provide care, and how they would protect themselves from being contaminated by the virus. Objective: To identify the difficulties faced by nurses in their workplace, in patient care during the COVID-19th pandemic; identify the factors that contributed to the development of mental exhaustion of nurses who were on the front line of caring for patients with COVID-19; 19th. Methodology: This is a descriptive review study of the scientific literature on the mental health of nurses during the pandemic. Data collection was carried out from August to November 2021, in the SciELO, BVS, LILACS and ACADEMIC GOOGLE databases, with the following steps: Identification of the theme and guiding research questions; establishment of inclusion and exclusion criteria; literature search; data collect; selection of articles, critical analysis of articles; discussion of results and conclusion. The inclusion criteria were original studies, fully indexed in the last 5 years and available online, in Portuguese. The descriptors were obtained using the DECS vocabulary tool (Descriptors in Health Sciences), separated by the Boolean operator AND: Mental health, nursing, COVID19 pandemic. Results: 5,391 articles were selected, of which 4,900 were found in Academic Google, 63 in LILACS, 183 in SciELO and 245 in the VHL. After going through the selection processes, a sample of 10 articles was obtained, however, one was common in the SciELO, LILACS and BVS databases, totaling 08 articles, being 05 from Google Scholar, one from LILACS, two from SciELO and one from the VHL. Of the 8 articles selected, only 5 addressed the difficulties faced by nurses in their workplace, during patient care, in the covid-19 pandemic, which were: increased workload, unstructured services, lack of professional training, difficulties to take breaks due to attire (garment and undressing) and long shifts. 7 articles described the factors that contributed to the mental exhaustion of nurses on the front line, namely: changes in work routines, concern about the lack of PPE, psychological distress, emotional changes such as depression, anxiety, insomnia and irritability syndrome of Burnout, distancing and isolation of people from the friendship cycle and family members that generated uncertainty, apprehension, panic, fear, anguish, despair, sadness, frustration, emotional pain, empathy and loneliness, dealing with the death and loss of several patients, insecurity and anxiety with the challenges of a disease with little scientific basis and at the same time unknown to most people and fear of becoming infected with covid-19. Regarding the prevention measures adopted to prevent nurses from getting sick, four articles addressed the theme, namely: that it should provide psychological and psychiatric support, habit of talking to family and friends, strategies for coping with anxiety, such as breathing technique and relaxation. Discussion: It was observed that at the beginning of the pandemic there was a lack of PPE, which generated fear and insecurity among nurses. The work carried out by professionals during the pandemic was not easy due to the work environment that led to direct contact with pain and suffering. In addition, nurses had to distance themselves from their loved ones, due to fear and risk of infecting them, as they dealt with people infected by the virus. The health sector had to deal with a meltdown, leaving the nurse overwhelmed, and still having to replace colleagues who were also victims of the Coronavirus. Conclusion: With this study, it was possible to conclude that, in order to care, the nurse must be cared for, he is not a machine, but a human person who has feelings. In this sense, it is necessary to maintain the well-being of professionals, promoting lectures, activities in groups or individuals, as well as assistance with psychologists and psychiatrists, in order to avoid compromising mental health.