Stress and Bio-Ethical Issues Perceived by Romanian Healthcare Practitioners in the COVID-19 Era

Daniela Reisz, Iulia Crișan, Andrea Reisz, Raluca Tudor and Doina Georgescu
Additional contact information
Daniela Reisz: Department of Neurology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babeș”, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
Iulia Crișan: Department of Psychology, West University of Timișoara, 300223 Timișoara, Romania
Andrea Reisz: Department of Letters, History, and Theology, West University of Timișoara, 300223 Timișoara, Romania
Raluca Tudor: Department of Neurology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babeș”, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
Doina Georgescu: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Victor Babeș”, 300041 Timișoara, Romania

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 23, 1-15

Abstract: Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on different areas of life, especially in the medical system. Because of the pandemic outbreak, the medical system was remodeled to treat COVID-19 patients in secure conditions. Those changes and restrictive measures have put pressure on individual adaptability. The present study investigated the stress of Romanian healthcare practitioners (HCP) and the capacity to deal with new bio-ethical issues that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Methods: We analyzed results from a survey on 97 Romanian HCP in several areas: personal experience with COVID-19, perceived emotional distress, and appraisal of bio-ethical principles respected or infringed during the pandemic in 2020. Results: Unlike previous studies, our respondents reported low to moderate stress levels. In addition, few bio-ethical principles were infringed on a personal level. Tendencies to sacrifice individual autonomy and make decisions affecting patients and co-workers were more prevalent among HCP with over 30 years of experience. Conclusions: Retrospectively, Romanian HCP in our sample appeared to share an embellished view of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Potentially related factors and coping mechanisms with stress are discussed.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; healthcare practitioners; bio-ethical principles; stress; wellbeing; decision making; autonomy; challenges (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12749/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12749/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12749-:d:694185

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().