Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) in Heath Care workers (HCWs) during Covid Pandemic- Case series

>AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: To present a series of 4 cases of PTSD in HCWs during the covid second wave METHODOLOGY: Reporting 4 different cases of PTSD in healthcare workers. 02 medical officers, 01 Nurse, and 01 health assistant who reported symptoms of vague nature arising out of stress during handling of Covid 19 pts and on detailed evaluation , had classical features of ICD 10 diagnosis of PTSD. All of them had clear cut psychological symptoms arising in close temporal relation to experiencing the trauma of handling covid patients and the agony and disaster that befell us during the covid second wave from April to Aug 2021. None of them had any past history of psychiatric illness or genetic loading of significance. None of them had any other significant live stressor in personal life. Thus underlying the life threatening nature of Covid exposure as a healthcare worker and it’s psychological implications. All of them were referred for vague symptoms like irritable mood, not able to function as before, physical symptoms of headache, marital discord etc. The exposure ranged from personal handling of serious covid patients to handling dead bodies in the mortuary to managing relatives of dying patients. No preventive distressing mechanism was available to them, the need of which is the learning from this study. Also , all of them were successfully treated with good outcome an d restored functionality, with empathetic support, rest, psycho education, relaxation and a short course of SSRIs RESULTS: High index of suspicion, empathetic handling, psycho education, behavioral modifications and cognitive counseling with a short course of antidepressants helped all of them improve significantly with return to almost normal functioning. CONCLUSION: The Covid experience has been a life threatening experience for HCWs involved in treatment of serious covid patients during covid pandemic esp the second wave. It has been a never before experienced reality, completely overwhelming and traumatogenic enough to cause PTSD in some of them. For the few diagnosed as PTSD there would be many undiagnosed HCWs. The focus should be on high index of suspicion for PTSD in HCWs and early detection,treatment and rehabilitation