Psychological distress and moral injury to oncologists and their patients during COVID-19 pandemic

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems has been unprecedented, and the psychological effects on cancer patients and health care professionals are likely to be significant and long-lasting. The traditional methods of face-to-face health care interactions have been replaced by virtu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2022-11, Vol.41 (11), p.8175-8180
Main Authors: Rashid, Shazia, Reeder, Clare, Sahu, Satyajit, Rashid, Sabia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Cancer
Cancer patients
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Epidemics
Global Psychological Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic
Health aspects
Health care policy
India
Moral injury
Morality
Oncologists
Pandemics
Professionals
Psychological aspects
Psychological research
Psychology
Social Sciences
Stress (Psychology)
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Summary:The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare systems has been unprecedented, and the psychological effects on cancer patients and health care professionals are likely to be significant and long-lasting. The traditional methods of face-to-face health care interactions have been replaced by virtual consultations to reduce exposure to COVID-19 infection. This has put the healthcare professional under tremendous psychological pressure and led to considerable anxiety and distress among cancer patients. Treatment decisions have had to be adjusted to account for a healthcare system that has been temporarily consumed by the care of people with COVID-19, and this has put cancer patients at risk of inferior outcomes. This has had the potential to cause moral injury and psychological distress to health care professionals as well as patients, who have had to deal with a range of stressors due to the uncertainty, sense of loss of control, reduced accessibility to medications and social support, changes to personal circumstances (e.g. financial pressures) and fear of death due to COVID-19 infection. Long term consequences also include post-traumatic responses and complex grief reactions. Cancer services in particular should gear themselves to recognize and monitor these effects and allocate adequate resources to combat them in the months and years to come.
ISSN:1046-1310
1936-4733
DOI:10.1007/s12144-021-02128-1