Prevalência de transtornos mentais em trabalhadores de unidades de terapia intensiva : uma revisão integrativa de literatura

Abstract

Aim: Identifying the prevalence of mental disorders among health professionals who work at intensive care units. Methodology: This is an integrative bibliographic review based on scientific articles indexed on SciELO and PubMed databases, considering publications from 2011 to 2021, in Portuguese, English and Spanish, using the terms: “Trabalhadores da Saúde”; “Unidade de Terapia Intensiva”; “Adoecimento Psíquico”; “Saúde Mental”; “Transtornos Mentais”; “Estresse Psicológico”; “Health Personnel”; “Intensive Care Units”; “Mental Health”; “Mental Disorders” e “Stress, Psychological”;“Enfermedad Psiquica”; “Salud Mental”; “Trastornos Mentales”; “Estrés Psicológico”. Papers written in the selected languages (English, Portuguese and Spanish) which related to mental health aspects of workers at intensive care unit (ICU) were included, setting aside those that were not available in full text, those that were carried out in other types of ICUs, such as pediatric and neonatal, or those in which sampled professionals from adult ICUs and other ICUs were assembled together without further specification, as well as those who did not display quantitative data on prevalence. Results: out of 839 articles found, 20 were included because they met the inclusion criteria. The mental disorders described in the articles were: burnout syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and stress. Among the analyzed papers, most considered that their positions lead to complex decision making, and that it is necessary to keep a fast pace in order to perform their functions and also their need for constant attention, which triggered emotional exhaustion. Conclusion: it could be inferred that the prevalence of mental disorders in ICU professionals is high, which require the enactment of measures aimed at enhancing their mental health.