Experience at the Department of Pediatrics of a private facility in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Health care workers experience a tremendous strain while performing their activities, very frequently leading to stress, burnout syndrome, and psychopathological impact. The COVID-19 pandemic may cause physicians to suffer these effects even to a greater extent. Our objective was to describe the frequency of stress, burnout syndrome, anxiety, and depression during the pandemic, and analyze the associations with different independent outcome measures.

Methods: Observational, cross-sectional study conducted 2 months after the lockdown was established in Argentina. Clinical specialists, surgeons, emergency physicians, and those with no direct contact with patients were surveyed using a sociodemographic questionnaire and 3 self-administered inventories: Health Professions Stress Inventory, Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.

Results: The prevalence of stress was 93.7 % (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 90.33-96.2), burnout syndrome 73.5 % (95 % CI: 68.2-78.4), anxiety 44 % (95 % CI: 38.4-49.8), and depression 21.9 % (95 % CI: 17.3-26.9). No association was observed between the frequency and medical specialty. The frequency of burnout syndrome, anxiety, and depression was significantly higher among residents and physicians working in the emergency department.

Conclusions: Residents and emergency physicians working 24-hour shifts showed significantly higher percentages of burnout syndrome, anxiety, and depression compared to staff and head physicians. These findings may be associated with a higher workload and less experience. It is compulsory to take preventive and therapeutic measures to protect those in the pandemic front line.