Impact of the first wave of Covid-19 on healthcare professionals

Objective: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic first wave on the healthcare professionals. Methodology: Descriptive, retrospective and multicenter study. Data were collected through a self-administering questionnaire with closed and open questions. The questionnaire had common variables for all professionals and exclusive ones for positive COVID-19 professionals. Results: 599 questionnaires were completed. The 83% were women, with a mean of 45.6 +/- 11.0 years and 33.4% were nurses and 21.7% technical. The 65.8% of the healthcare professionals affirmed that they had received training on the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and 35.4% responded that 75% of the times they had available PPE and 48.3%, always. The 42.1% (n=252) of the professionals reported physical fatigue, 38.1% (n=228) emotional fatigue, 33.7% (n=202) stress and 30.2% (n=181) insomnia, as symptoms derived from the situation experienced during the pandemic. The professionals who were positive for COVID-19 (n=91) had no more risk pathological antecedents than negatives ones (p=0.077); they were technical or other healthcare professionals (p=0.001) and they worked at a socio-sanitary center (p=0.001). Most of the positive professionals were considered to be at risk level 3 (p=0.001) and had been in contact with a positive patient (p = 0.012) or with another positive professional (p=0.05). Conclusions: The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the physical and mental health of the health professionals, especially in the first-line ones. (AU)