Suicidal Ideation and Behavior Post-pandemic in Health Professionals
Keywords:
suicidal ideation, suicide, health personnel, COVID-19Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic made visible the latent risk of suicide in health professionals, due to the psychosocial conditions of their work, job dissatisfaction, exhaustion and chronic fatigue, in situations of uncertainty and unpredictability, mitigating their resources and coping ability.
Objective: Describe possible triggers for suicidal ideation and behavior in health professionals during COVID-19 and post-pandemic.
Methods: A literature search was carried out through metasearch engines using the terms DeCs/MeSH, Suicide, Suicidal Ideation, Health Personnel and COVID-19, related to each other using the Boolean operators OR and AND in Google Scholar, Scielo, Lilacs, PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct.
Discussion: The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus focused attention on the deaths and illnesses caused by COVID-19, disregarding the recognition and addressing of the emotional and mental consequences involved in facing the pandemic. Nevertheless, dealing with this issue entails significant challenges that involve the use of effective interventions based on solid scientific evidence.
Conclusions: Different studies and research showed the negative impact that the uncertainty and unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic have on professionals’ well-being and mental health. For this reason, it is necessary to route previous interventions focused on their personal, systematic and organizational factors, which provide adequate medical care to them, with the aim of reducing the modifiable factors that contribute to medical suicide and prevent their mental health may affect the ability to practice their profession.
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References
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16. Mortier P, Vilagut G, Alayo I, Ferrer M, Amigo F, Aragonès E, et al. Four-month incidence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among healthcare workers after the first wave of the Spain COVID-19 pandemic. J Psychiatr Res [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2023 Jul 1];149:10–7. Available from: www.elsevier.com/locate/jpsychireshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.02.009
17. Silver SR, Li J, Marsh SM, Carbone EG. Prepandemic Mental Health and Well-being: Differences Within the Health Care Workforce and the Need for Targeted Resources. J Occup Environ Med [Internet]. 2022 Dec 1 [cited 2023 Jul 24];64(12):1025–35. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36472564/
18. Awan S, Diwan MN, Aamir A, Allahuddin Z, Irfan M, Carano A, et al. Suicide in Healthcare Workers: Determinants, Challenges, and the Impact of COVID-19. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Feb 3;12. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.792925
19. Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS. COVID-19 and impairment of mental health: public health perspective. Afri Health Sci. 2021;21(4):1527. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v21i4.5
20. Harvey SB, Epstein RM, Glozier N, Petrie K, Strudwick J, Gayed A, et al. Mental illness and suicide among physicians. www.thelancet.com [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2023 Jul 1];398. Available from: www.thelancet.com
21. Amador Sánchez OA. La conducta suicida, un problema de salud pública en el mundo. Ciencia y Academia [Internet]. 2023 Feb 24 [cited 2023 Jul 12];(4). Available from: https://revistas.ucatolicaluisamigo.edu.co/index.php/CYA/article/view/4657/3989
22. Bryn Nelson. COVID-19’s Crushing Mental Health Toll on Health Care Workers. Cancer Cytopathol [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2023 Jul 1]; Available from: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncy.22347
23. Congreso de la República. Ley 1616 de 2013. 2013. Recuperado de https://www.minsalud.gov.co/sites/rid/Lists/BibliotecaDigital/RIDE/DE/DIJ/ley-1616-del-21-de-enero-2013.pdf
24. Ishikawa M. Long working hours, depression and suicidality among OB/GYNs in Japan. [cited 2023 Jul 11]; Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqab191
25. Carlos J, Adán M, Del Pino Cuadrado P, Alaejos RS, Gálvez Herrer M, Dolores M, et al. El trabajador con problemas de salud mental. Pautas generales de detección, intervención y prevención. Med Segur Trab (Internet). 2011;57:1–262. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4321/s0465-546x2011000500012
2. Organización Panamericana de la Salud. Prevención del suicidio - OPS/OMS | [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2023 Jun 19]. Available from: https://www.paho.org/es/temas/prevencion-suicidio
3. Kingston AM. Break the Silence: Physician Suicide in the Time of COVID-19. Mo Med [Internet]. 2020 Sep 1 [cited 2023 Jul 1];117(5):426. Available from: /pmc/articles/PMC7723130/
4. Sahimi HMS, Mohd Daud TI, Chan LF, Shah SA, Rahman FHA, Nik Jaafar NR. Depression and Suicidal Ideation in a Sample of Malaysian Healthcare Workers: A Preliminary Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Front Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 30;12. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.658174
5. Federación de aseguradores Colombianos Vista de Núm. 171 (2018). Revista FASECOLDA. 2018 [cited 2023 Jun 19]. p. 27–35 FASECOLDA Available from: https://revista.fasecolda.com/index.php/revfasecolda/issue/view/24/fasecolda_171
6. Urzúa A, Samaniego A, Caqueo-Urízar A, Zapata Pizarro A, Irarrázaval Domínguez M, Urzúa A, et al. Salud mental en trabajadores de la salud durante la pandemia por COVID-19 en Chile. Rev MedChil [Internet]. 2020 Aug 1 [cited 2023 Jun 26];148(8):1121–7. Available from: http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-98872020000801121&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es
7. Lai J, Ma S, Wang Y, Cai Z, Hu J, Wei N, et al. Factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA Netw Open [Internet]. 2020 Mar 2 [cited 2023 Jun 19];3(3):e203976–e203976. Available from: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2763229
8. Organización Panamericana de la Salud OPS, Organización Mundial de la Salud OMS. Estudio advierte sobre elevados niveles de depresión y pensamientos suicidas en personal de salud de América Latina durante la pandemia - OPS/OMS | [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2023 Jun 27]. Available from: https://www.paho.org/es/noticias/13-1-2022-estudio-advierte-sobre-elevados-niveles-depresion-pensamientos-suicidas-personal
9. López Van den Berghe J, Meza-Diaz FJ, Rojas-Hernández JP, Rojas-Fernández JC, López Van den Berghe J, Meza-Diaz FJ, et al. Sobre el suicidio en los profesionales de la salud y la importancia de la creación de estrategias desde un enfoque holístico. Entramado [Internet]. 2021 Jan 1 [cited 2023 Jun 27];17(1):204–16. Available from: http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1900-38032021000100204&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=es
10. López González A. Universidad de Los Andes. Notas de Política. 2020 [cited 2023 Jun 26]. p. 1–12 El suicidio postpandemia, una epidemia anunciada. Available from: https://medicina.uniandes.edu.co/sites/default/files/coronavirus/doc/articulo-el-suicidio-en-postpandemia.pdf
11. Que JY, Shi L, Yan W, Chen SJ, Wu P, Sun SW, et al. Nightmares mediate the association between traumatic event exposure and suicidal ideation in frontline medical workers exposed to COVID-19. J Affect Disord. 2022 May;304:12–9. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.02.033
12. García-Iglesias JJ, Gómez-Salgado J, Fernández-Carrasco FJ, Rodríguez-Díaz L, Vázquez-Lara JM, Prieto-Callejero B, et al. Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review. Front Public Health. 2022 Dec 6;10:1043216. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1043216
13. Duarte D, El-Hagrassy MM, Couto T, Gurgel W, Minuzzi L, Saperson K, et al. Challenges and potential solutions for physician suicide risk factors in the COVID-19 era: psychiatric comorbidities, judicialization of medicine, and burnout. Trends Psychiatry Psychother [Internet]. 2023 [cited 2023 Jul 10];45:20210293–4. Available from: http://doi.org/10.47626/2237-6089-2021-0293
14. Bismark M, Smallwood N, Jain R, Background KW. Thoughts of suicide or self-harm among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: qualitative analysis of open-ended survey responses. [cited 2023 Jul 10]; Available from: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.509
15. Lin YH, Chen JS, Huang PC, Lu MY, Strong C, Lin CY, et al. Factors associated with insomnia and suicidal thoughts among outpatients, healthcare workers, and the general population in Taiwan during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health [Internet]. 2022 Dec 1 [cited 2023 Jul 1];22(1):1–11. Available from: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-14557-z
16. Mortier P, Vilagut G, Alayo I, Ferrer M, Amigo F, Aragonès E, et al. Four-month incidence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among healthcare workers after the first wave of the Spain COVID-19 pandemic. J Psychiatr Res [Internet]. 2022 [cited 2023 Jul 1];149:10–7. Available from: www.elsevier.com/locate/jpsychireshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.02.009
17. Silver SR, Li J, Marsh SM, Carbone EG. Prepandemic Mental Health and Well-being: Differences Within the Health Care Workforce and the Need for Targeted Resources. J Occup Environ Med [Internet]. 2022 Dec 1 [cited 2023 Jul 24];64(12):1025–35. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36472564/
18. Awan S, Diwan MN, Aamir A, Allahuddin Z, Irfan M, Carano A, et al. Suicide in Healthcare Workers: Determinants, Challenges, and the Impact of COVID-19. Front Psychiatry. 2022 Feb 3;12. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.792925
19. Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS. COVID-19 and impairment of mental health: public health perspective. Afri Health Sci. 2021;21(4):1527. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v21i4.5
20. Harvey SB, Epstein RM, Glozier N, Petrie K, Strudwick J, Gayed A, et al. Mental illness and suicide among physicians. www.thelancet.com [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2023 Jul 1];398. Available from: www.thelancet.com
21. Amador Sánchez OA. La conducta suicida, un problema de salud pública en el mundo. Ciencia y Academia [Internet]. 2023 Feb 24 [cited 2023 Jul 12];(4). Available from: https://revistas.ucatolicaluisamigo.edu.co/index.php/CYA/article/view/4657/3989
22. Bryn Nelson. COVID-19’s Crushing Mental Health Toll on Health Care Workers. Cancer Cytopathol [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2023 Jul 1]; Available from: https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncy.22347
23. Congreso de la República. Ley 1616 de 2013. 2013. Recuperado de https://www.minsalud.gov.co/sites/rid/Lists/BibliotecaDigital/RIDE/DE/DIJ/ley-1616-del-21-de-enero-2013.pdf
24. Ishikawa M. Long working hours, depression and suicidality among OB/GYNs in Japan. [cited 2023 Jul 11]; Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqab191
25. Carlos J, Adán M, Del Pino Cuadrado P, Alaejos RS, Gálvez Herrer M, Dolores M, et al. El trabajador con problemas de salud mental. Pautas generales de detección, intervención y prevención. Med Segur Trab (Internet). 2011;57:1–262. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4321/s0465-546x2011000500012
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2023-11-27
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Echeverri Gómez PA. Suicidal Ideation and Behavior Post-pandemic in Health Professionals. Rev. Hosp. Psiq. Habana. [Internet]. 2023 Nov. 27 [cited 2025 Aug. 1];20(3). Available from: https://revhph.sld.cu/index.php/hph/article/view/374
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