In the early months of COVID-19, the nightly refrain of people banging pots and pans to drum up support for doctors and nurses on the frontlines of what would become a full-blown pandemic echoed around the world, a familiar sound of gratitude at a time when so much was unknown.
More recently, as the public’s attention turned to the mental and physical health of medical professionals, University of Guelph researcher Dr. Basem Gohar sought a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to look more closely at the health care professionals seemingly forgotten.
Gohar, a clinical psychologist and professor in the Department of Population Medicine at the Ontario Veterinary College, led the rapid review conducted by his lab team, including Liam Ishaky, a master of public health student, and Dr. Myuri Sivanthan, a post-doctoral fellow, to examine the impact the pandemic had on the mental health of medical lab professionals, physical and occupational therapists.
In a digital search of nearly 9,000 articles, researchers removed duplicates to qualitatively assess 72 studies, of which 16 met the review’s criteria. They found poor mental health outcomes among all occupational groups that included burnout, depression and anxiety.
Read more at University of Guelph
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