Dental Industry Insights

According to the UN health agency WHO, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, prevalence of common mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety, went up by more than 25 percent. The pandemic has led to widespread feelings of anxiety, depression, and Mental health providers during COVID-19 post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. For mental health needs, over 1 in 3 outpatient visits were delivered by telehealth (for example, 35% and 38% of outpatient visits were over telehealth for depression or anxiety, respectively). Early on in the pandemic (March-August 2020), outpatient services for mental health and substance use were delivered by telehealth at a similar rate among children and the elderly, and a slightly lower rate among non-elderly adults.

Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Innovative embedded health care models in OBGYN are being used to prevent psychiatric sequelae of COVID-19 for patients as well as all health care personnel. We found that a targeted approach, focused on a specific population within the OBGYN department with an identified need, increased the rate of participation and engagement in support groups for health care personnel. With 100% of care currently being provided via telehealth, WMH @Ob/Gyn has been able to respond to increasing patient demand while freed of constraints due to limited office space and risk of exposure to COVID-19. Beginning March 13, 2020, and days in advance of New York State mandating a stay-at-home order, all mental health services provided by WMH @Ob/Gyn transitioned to telehealth. A mental health service taking insurance, a rarity in behavioral health treatment in the US, WMH @Ob/Gyn provides high quality care, including psychotherapy, support groups, and medication management for women who may not otherwise have access to treatment.

One institution even piloted a “PPE portrait” program, whereby HCW received self-portrait picture stickers that could be placed over their PPE to lessen the obstacles PPE introduce in connecting and building rapport with patients . The reviewed institutional initiatives to address HCW basic needs included food and alternative housing provisions, assistance with transportation, childcare, and expanded workplace rest spaces. At a New York medical institution, listening sessions revealed that HCW concerns primarily related to basic professional and personal needs, including access to PPE, potential exposure to COVID-19, access to expanded childcare, and additional training if redeployed to new units . The first arm of LaMontagne et al.’s framework, harm prevention, draws from the principles of public health and psychology.

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health Providers

• Low-wage and part-time workers were those most likely to be unemployed and people of color (especially women) had disproportionate job losses compared to the general population.
• Ironically, while social media is designed to connect people, excessive use can lead to social isolation.
• In many European countries, telepsychiatry has gone from a niche practice to an essential modality for providing mental health services; this has been so in Germany , Spain , France 13,18,42, Ireland 19,29,50, the Netherlands , and Switzerland .
• Health care workers (HCWs) faced more stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially increasing depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Despite advanced planning, healthcare workers have to deal with the realities of managing pandemics where considerable uncertainties remain (Schoonhoven et al., 2020).
• To what extent neuropsychiatric symptoms are truly unique for patients with COVID remains unclear from these meta-analyses, as hardly any study included well-matched controls with other types of respiratory infections or inflammatory conditions.

Strategies that mental health service users have successfully used to adapt to coping during the pandemic, at least during the acute phase, should be researched and leveraged.7 There is already some evidence of short-term success,100, 135 and remote service delivery could also have longer-term advantages, especially in countries with low investment in mental health services and low capacity.136 Remote community treatment and support has long been suggested, but has not previously been implemented widely because of barriers and challenges from both health-care staff and service users.

Study Detection

In particular, depression and anxiety symptoms were reported with unexpectedly high severity, with 6.5% reporting severe depression symptoms and another 55% light to medium symptoms. Moreover, organisations and employers in the healthcare sector who helped with recruitment by disseminating the survey among their employees or members also received a summary on completion of the data collection. To be included in our study, participants were required to work in one of the areas of the healthcare sector, either in private or in public institutions.