Psychosocial risks: main threats to health care workers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

Psychosocial risks circumscribe a relationship between the individual and the environment where they work, including from physical, social and organizational aspects of work, which, depending on personal capacities, can be potentially harmful to the health of workers. The entire world is currently witnessing one of the greatest health crises of the 21(st) century, due to a new type of disease-causing virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The study aimed to survey the importance of psychosocial risks in health care professionals, based on evidence collected in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an analytical article whose guiding question was: what sources of psychosocial risks are present in health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic? A total of 29 documents were included, coming from different sources of information that enriched the worked sample. The presence of the sources of psychosocial risks in the COVID-19 pandemic was analyzed, according to job content, workload and work pace, work schedule, control, environment and equipment, organizational structure and function, and role in the organization interpersonal relationships, career development, and work-life interface; furthermore, examples of situations that account for the presence of these risks are presented. All sources of psychosocial risks are present during the pandemic, some of their unfortunate harmful consequences have been currently described, and a call is thus made to address the problem.