Mental distress and influencing factors in nurses caring for patients with COVID‐19

Background Nurses are experiencing tremendous stress during the new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic, especially intensive care nurses. The pandemic of the disease is a tragedy, which may leave a catastrophic psychological imprint on nurses. Understanding nurses' mental distress can help when implementing interventions to mitigate psychological injuries to nurses. Aims and objectives To quantify the severity of nurses' post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and stress and explore the influencing factors of their psychological health when caring for patients with COVID‐19. Design A cross‐sectional survey. Methods The PTSD Checklist‐Civilian and the Perceived Stress Scale were administered from 11 to 18 March 2020, to 90 nurses selected from another city to go and help an intensive care unit (ICU) in Wuhan, China. These nurses were selected because of their high levels of clinical performance and resilience status. Results Nurses' average PTSD score was 24.62 ± 6.68, and five (5.6%) of the nurses reported a clinically significant level of PTSD symptoms (>38 points). Nurses' perceived stress averaged 19.33 ± 7, and 20 nurses (22.22%) scored positively >25 points. Nurses' stress and PTSD symptoms were positively correlated (P