The Challenges Of The Medical Doctors Working In The Intensive Care Unit During Covid-19 Pandemic

Background/Aim: Healthcare professionals working in intensive care unit (ICU) have been in the frontline from the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the technical and psychological difficulties encountered by medical doctors working in the ICU of the hospitals within Bakent University Faculty of Medicine during this pandemic. Methods: A questionnaire consisting of 52 questions was applied to the medical doctors working in the ICUs of Bakent University affiliated centers. Results: Out of the 73 ICU physicians who were invited to participate, 62 (84.9%) of them completed the survey. Out of 59.7% of the participants stated that they did not feel safe while caring for the patients. The most common reason for their insecurity was the fear of contamination (70.3%). Out of 69.4% ICU physicians stated that their anxiety level was moderate. It was observed that the anxiety level of ICU physicians decreased as the number of patients followed up increased (p = 0.025), the increase in the number of hospital beds was found to be significantly associated with increased anxiety level (p = 0.015). It was found that the presence of anxiety complaint increased the state of having high anxiety related to COVID-19 disease 28.3 times (p = 0.001).