The impact of COVID 19 pandemic on fatigue, sleeping disorders, and quality of work-life among healthcare workers

ABSTRACT

Purpose

This study aims to evaluate the various psychological issues and occupational stress caused by the recent COVID-19 epidemic, such as exhaustion, sleeping difficulties, and quality of work life (QWL), among healthcare workers (HCWs) working in a tertiary care institution.

Methodology

A Descriptive Cross-Sectional design is adopted that appropriately portrays aspects such as fatigue, sleeping problems, and QWL of HCWs from various departments at a multi-specialty hospital in Kerala during the COVID pandemic in a specific period.

Significant findings

There is a strong sense of a positive link between fatigue and sleeping difficulties among HCWs, and they tend to rise simultaneously, according to the correlation analysis. The MANOVA test revealed that QWL, sleeping problems, and fatigue were strongly influenced by the department in which they work. The ANOVA test demonstrates that the department and sleeping problems and Fatigue with Marital Status and Age have statistical significance.

Significance and implications

The studies intended to explore the interactive effects of various factors on fatigue, quality of life, and sleeping difficulties and the association between the fatigue, QWL, and sleeping difficulties all at once, especially during COVID 19 pandemic, are quite rare, even though many investigators worked on research examining the variables impacting fatigue, QWL, and sleeping difficulties among HCWs. Furthermore, this research is crucial in the current COVID 19 scenarios to understand the physical and mental well-being of HCWs to guarantee the safe and effective care of patients and the well-being of the healthcare employees. Fatigue and sleeping problems will likely arise among HCWs; thus, proper precautions should be implemented. According to the study, employees’ QWL was good during the COVID 19 epidemic. Still, continuous fatigue and associated sleeping problems might lead to a loss of QWL, so this study helps the management to opt for various organizational initiatives and appropriate strategies to diminishes the symptoms of fatigue and sleep issues among healthcare workers, allowing HCWs to maintain a high QWL.

KEYWORDS:

• Healthcare workers
• fatigue
• sleeping disorders
• quality of work-life
• COVID-19

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical consideration

The research, which uses human participants, was examined and approved by the hospital's institutional ethical review committee. The participants in this study provided written, informed consent to participate.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Saswat Barpanda

Dr. Saswat Barpanda is an Associate Professor at the Goa Institute of Management. His research work broadly in the area of Strategic Human Resource management emphasizes intellectual capital and knowledge management. His teaching interest includes Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior, Managerial value and Business ethics, Strategic HRM, HR Analytics, Social entrepreneurship, and Research methodology.

Greeshma Saraswathy

Ms. Greeshma S is presently working as a research scholar at Amrita University. She is into healthcare management and research for the last three years.