The Anxiety and Fear of Covid-19 in Nurses Working in the Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department of Educational and Medical Centers of Iran University Of Medical Sciences, 2021

Background and Aim: In December 2019, a new type of corona virus appeared in the Chinese city of Wuhan and quickly led to the infection and death of hundreds of thousands of people in the world. So that it created a sudden crisis in people's physical and mental health. The rapid spread of the virus in the world led to the declaration of an epidemic disease called Covid-19 by the World Health Organization. The outbreak of the epidemic led to the quarantine and closure of many jobs in different countries, but the jobs of the health and treatment sector were not only not closed, but they are working tirelessly on the front line of the disease to take care of patients. Among the employees of the healthcare sector, nurses are the ones who have the most involvement in the fight against Covid-19 patients and are in direct contact with patients on a regular basis from the time of admission to discharge. They not only experience high work stress, but due to the long work period and the requirement to be in clinical and hospital environments, they are at high risk of contracting the virus, which exposes them to problems. It is psychological. In the meantime, special care and emergency departments by accepting unwell and unpredictable patients have a higher level of tension and more dangerous working conditions than other hospital departments, and subsequently, nurses by working in These sections are more susceptible to psychological problems. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the anxiety and fear of covid-19 in nurses working in the special care and emergency departments of the educational and treatment centers of Iran University of Medical Sciences. Method: The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study on 205 nurses working in the special care and emergency departments of Hazrat Rasool Akram, Firozgar, Shohada Haftam Tir, Yaftabad, Firozabadi and Lulager hospitals during the period of June to September 2021. Sampling was done by full enumeration method. The criteria for entering the study included not having a history of known mental disorders and a history of taking psychoactive drugs based on self-report. The number of nurses working in the Corona ICU and emergency departments was a total of 430, of which 205 participated in the study. Heavy work shifts, lack of personnel and long-term fatigue of nurses led to their non-cooperation in research and a drop in the number of samples. Then, by referring to the Corona and Emergency ICU departments and after explaining the objectives and the method of conducting the research to the supervisors, if they wish to participate in the study, the link to the electronic questionnaires designed in the form of the Android Pressline program will be available to the supervisors of the department. The relevant websites were placed so that they could share the relevant link among the nurses of the ward through WhatsApp virtual training groups. After answering and receiving the answered questionnaires online, the desired information was extracted from the confirmed samples. Research tools included demographic questionnaires, anxiety of covid-19 and fear of covid-19. Data were statistically analyzed using independent t-test, two-by-two and Pearson's correlation in SPSS-16 software. Results: The average anxiety of nurses working in special care and emergency department was equal to 18.67 ± 13.25, of which mental symptoms had the highest average (12.11 ± 6.89) and physical symptoms had the lowest average (56 ± 7.11). /6) was The mean score of fear of covid-19 in nurses was 21.19 ± 6.60. There was a negative and significant correlation between the anxiety of nurses due to covid-19 only with the duration of work in the corona ward (P < 0.001), so that with the increase of the duration of work in the corona ward, the anxiety of nurses was significantly increased by 0.475 units. There was a decrease. The fear of covid-19 was significantly higher in married nurses (P=0.02) and nurses with a history of covid-19 (P=0.006) than other nurses. There was a statistically significant relationship between the fear of covid-19 and the frequency of contracting this disease (P=0.021). The fear of covid-19 was significantly higher in nurses who were infected with this disease than those who were not infected at all (P=0.034). Conclusion: The results of the present study showed the presence of moderate anxiety and fear in nurses working in the special care and emergency department of Covid-19. The findings showed that the concern about the spread of corona to the surrounding people is the most important factor causing anxiety in nurses, and with the increase of working time in the corona ward, the anxiety of nurses decreases significantly. Also, nurses who were married and had a history of contracting the disease showed significantly more fear than nurses who had never been infected. Considering the many problems that such disorders create for nurses, especially in the special care and emergency departments, there is a need for effective planning to reduce and improve its physical and psychological effects in nurses, in order to provide optimal care and High quality is recommended. Also, considering that nursing managers play an important role in supporting nurses, it is recommended not only during the epidemic of Covid-19, but also during the epidemics that may face a crisis in the world community in the future. Nursing managers should provide conditions by creating suitable work environment and holding workshops on mental health and dealing with fear and anxiety so that nurses can cope with the challenges of the epidemic, especially anxiety and fear of it. Increasing the number of nurses, reducing working hours, psychological support from specialists, effective infection control, personal protection measures and implementation of institutional policies and protocols can help reduce anxiety and fear and increase the mental health of nurses.