Perceived stress, trust, safety and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection among patients discharged from hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic’s first wave: a PREMs survey

AimTo investigate experiences of stress, feelings of safety, trust in healthcare staff and perceptions of the severity of a SARS-CoV-2 infection among inpatients discharged from Valais Hospital, Switzerland, during the COVID-19 pandemic’s first wave.MethodsDischarged patients aged 18 years or more (n=4665), hospitalised between 28 February and 11 May 2020, whether they had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 or not, were asked to complete a self-reporting questionnaire, as were their informal caregivers, if available (n=866). Participants answered questions from Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (0=no stress, 40=severe stress), Krajewska-Kułak et al’s Trust in Nurses Scale and Anderson and Dedrick’s Trust in Physician Scale (10=no trust, 50=complete trust), the severity of a SARS-CoV-2 infection (1=not serious, 5=very serious), as well as questions on their perceived feelings of safety (0=not safe, 10=extremely safe).ResultsOf our 1341 respondents, 141 had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Median PSS score was 24 (IQR1–3=19–29), median trust in healthcare staff was 33 (IQR1–3=31–36), median perceived severity of a SARS-CoV-2 infection was 4 (IQR1−3=3–4) and the median feelings of safety score was 8 (IQR1–3=8–10). Significant differences were found between males and females for PSS scores (p