How the COVID‐19 Pandemic Affected Different Specialties When it Came to Sleep Quality

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Abstracts of the 2023 Pennsylvania College of Emergency Physicians Scientific Assembly

Abstract

Study Objectives: The COVID‐19 pandemic affected healthcare professionals across many specialties. This study provides a look into how sleep quality was affected during the pandemic across different primary specialties.

Methods: The study was conducted through a survey via survey monkey which was sent to health care professionals of a healthcare network in eastern Pennsylvania. The study was sent to residents in training, fellows, nurses, attending physicians, as well as advanced practitioners in specialties including Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Critical Care. The survey was sent out on January 11th, 2022 and remained open over a 2‐week period. All data collected in this study was anonymous. The responses to the survey questions about wellness were measured as 1 being not at all true to 5 being completely true. Several categories were compared to distinguish the providers from one another in addition to specialty, including age, with whom the provider lives, and the average number of clinical hours worked a month. Collectively, there were 267 surveys received of which 125 are male, 141 are female, and 1 prefers not to identify. 34 were Critical care, 147 were Emergency Medicine, 28 were Family Medicine, and 48 were Internal Medicine (Figure 1).

Results: Significant differences occurred across primary specialties for 2 questions with clinical significance of p<.05. When asked “I have trouble falling asleep” there was a significant difference between specialties Critical Care vs Family Medicine p<.001. Critical Care vs Internal Medicine p = .002. Emergency Medicine vs Family Medicine p = .004. “I have trouble staying asleep” When asked the above question there was a significant difference between Critical Care vs Family Medicine p = .002 and Emergency Medicine vs Family Medicine p = .003.

Conclusion: The COVID‐19 pandemic affected health care professionals' sleep quality. Based on our study, the results indicate there is increased difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep among Critical Care and Emergency Medicine professionals compared to other specialties, particularly Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. The decrease in sleep quality experienced during the pandemic can potentially affect professionals' overall care.

First Page

e12946

DOI

10.1002/emp2.12946

Publication Date

6-2023

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS