The impact of COVID 19 on health professionals in Greece

In mid-autumn 2019 a severe respiratory infection made its appearance in Asia showing its harsh disposition from the begging. The media and social media have constantly shown images of doctors, nurses and other health workers collapsing, just like the health systems of some countries. The media and social media have constantly shown images of doctors, nurses and other health workers collapsing, just like the health systems of some countries. The images highlighted the anguish, worry, fear that spread to all health workers and the despair that death caused. The review of articles was performed on the occasion of a survey that investigates the anxiety, worry, mental and physical fatigue and strain experienced by the health personnel due to the respiratory pandemic infection covid-19 that also broke out in Greece at the beginning of 2020. The purpose of the research was to show the extent of professional exhaustion and fatigue experienced by health personnel in health structures in Greece during the outbreak of the new corona virus pandemic. The survey was conducted on a significant sample of primary, secondary and tertiary health care workers. Fatigue and burnout, along with worry and anxiety, were found to be at high levels among healthcare professionals at all three levels of healthcare. In parallel with the research, articles and studies carried out inside and outside Greece were also reviewed. The infectious respiratory infection, which crossed the borders of many European and other countries, was a crash for many health systems and led to the death of millions of people. At the same time, it affected with negative feelings the health professionals who were involved in the treatment, and prevention against the new corona virus. A common denominator of the studies conducted in secondary and tertiary care hospitals is the accumulated stress, anxiety, emotional burden with anxiety about self-protection of health professionals, fear, stress and anxiety about not transferring the virus to their loved ones, but more so in non-covid patients who were tested a lot due to other serious and chronic diseases, e.g. cancer patients. Some were driven to absolute despair (incidents of suicide), while some others tired physically and mentally, with less intensity. Mental and physical burnout was also related to the measures implemented in the different countries. It was observed that in countries where adequate measures were not taken the dispersion was huge and proportional were the admissions of patients to hospitals, admissions to ICUs and covid clinics and, of course, also deaths. Therefore, the fear, anxiety and despair of health professionals was corresponding. On the contrary, in countries that had better preparation and organization in dealing with treatment and avoiding dispersion, such as Greece, the levels of burnout were in better percentages compared to those abroad. Signs of burnout were also shown by the health personnel of primary health care who developed an active role from the first months of the pandemic in our country and contributed to the diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, and prevention against the new corona virus in many ways. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus covid 19 has been a huge threat to Public Health, which has had serious consequences at a global level. It was an important experience for the whole world, but especially for the entire health world worldwide, leading to new paths and great changes.