COVID-19's lasting impact on ER and ICU staff

How were doctors and nurses in emergency rooms and intensive care units affected by caring for dying COVID-19 patients? To study this, Bandini et al. used the qualitative data they collected (and shared through the PCODR archive) in the longitudinal study, Protecting the Mental and Physical Well-Being of Frontline Healthcare Workers During COVID-19, United States, 2021-2022 (ICPSR 38816). The study interviewed healthcare workers from two hospitals in California two years after the pandemic began. They were asked to reflect on their experiences providing end-of-life care at different stages of the pandemic. The interviews revealed two main themes. First, respondents faced major challenges in their clinical duties, like needing to make difficult treatment decisions so quickly. Second, respondents dealt with intense emotional struggles as a result of acting as substitutes for patients’ family members who were not allowed to be with them as they died. Those vividly remembered traumatic experiences had a sustained and cumulative effect even two years later. More publications are available in the ICPSR Bibliography, which analyze COVID-19-related data found in a variety of ICPSR studies.