From the Editor
We read often about the physical health effects of COVID. But how does this pandemic affect mental health?
This week’s Reading has three selections, with two focused on this question.
In the first selection, we consider the psychological effects of COVID on health care workers. In a new JAMA Network Open paper, Jianbo Lai (of Zhejiang University School of Medicine) and co-authors look at mental health outcomes and the factors associated with them in China. “Among Chinese health care workers exposed to COVID-19, women, nurses, those in Wuhan, and front-line health care workers have a high risk of developing unfavorable mental health outcomes and may need psychological support or interventions.”
During this pandemic, many Canadians are self-isolating; in the coming weeks, many could be quarantined. In the second selection, we consider a new Lancet paper on quarantine and its psychological impact. Samantha K. Brooks (of King’s College London) and her co-authors write: “Given the developing situation with coronavirus, policy makers urgently need evidence synthesis to produce guidance for the public. In circumstances such as these, rapid reviews are recommended by WHO.”
Finally, in the third selection, we look at a NYT essay by Dr. Donald Berwick (of Harvard Medical School). He discusses the way health care providers have risen to the challenge of COVID. “We are witnessing professionalism in its highest form, skilled people putting the interests of those they serve above their own interests.”
DG
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