Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health of Healthcare Workers-A Perception of Indian Hospital Administrators

Since the coronavirus pandemic, many factors led to the change in the mental well-being of hospital administrators and their staff. The pandemic negatively impacted the availability and capability of health professionals to deliver essential services and meet rising demand. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the perspective of hospital administrators about issues and challenges that negatively impacted their staff's mental health and hospital administrators' coping response to mitigate those challenges and issues. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 17 hospital administrators (superintendents, deputy superintendents, nursing in charge and hospital in charge) working in a government district hospital of Rajasthan state during September 2022 and October 2022. This study revealed various emerging themes on mental health-related issues, challenges and coping strategies reported by the administrators. Themes and sub-themes that emerged from this study were 1) Perceived mental health of HCWs-perceived importance of mental health, 2) Impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of HCWs- common mental health issues, changes in mental health pre and post-pandemic, 3) Impact of COVID-19 on health behavior of HCWs-increased self-care and awareness, 4) Challenges responsible for poor mental health of HCWs-organizational, ethical and societal challenges and 5) Strategies to retain mental health of HCWs-effective coping strategies. The most common problems were increased levels of stress, feeling fatigued, tiredness, weak and anxiety among the HCWs. Keeping their staff motivated was the biggest challenge reported. Social support, counseling through professionals and demystifying myths were the most effective coping strategies adopted by the participants. In conclusion, this study reported poor mental health-related issues, challenges faced by the HCWs and effective strategies adopted by hospital administrators during tough situations. This study will assist hospital administrators in developing interventions such as regular training programs and workshops to teach effective coping skills to address poor mental health during crises.