Evaluation of post-traumatic stress disorder, burnout and coping styles in emergency and intensive care unit employees

Objective: Although it's well known that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is frequent in intensive care and emergency departments employees, this subject has been studied very rare. PTSD frequency, burnout and the methods of coping with PTSD were investigated in our study in employees working at this area from various hospitals from our country. Method: Data of 123 emergency department, 139 intensive care unit employees and 133 control included from different centers to the study were evaluated. The Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Coping Style Scale and sociodemographic data form developed for the study were applied to all participants. Results: The rates of PTSD in emergency employees, in intensive care unit employees and in controls were 23.6%, 15.8% and 6% respectively. The HAD scores of both the emergency and intensive care groups were higher than the control group. Discussion: Emergency and intensive care unit employees are risky people for especially PTSD and psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Various precautions must be taken at this kind of workplaces in terms of preventive mental health.