The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental and physical health of professors in the Medicine course of a university in the metropolitan region of Espírito Santo state, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction:
The accelerated rise of COVID-19 changed routine and lifestyle of medicine professors, who had to reconcile work on the front line with the change to remote education. Objective: To evaluate the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental and physical health of medicine faculty at a University in the Metropolitan Region of Espírito Santo, Brazil. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, quantitative and qualitative study conducted with medicine professors at a University in the Metropolitan Region of Espírito Santo, Brazil, from August 2020 to December 2020. Data collection was performed with online questionnaire, data entry in Excel 2010 and analysis in OpenEpi. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee on Research with Human Beings of the University in study. Results: It was possible to establish an influence of the pandemic on the level of stress (p<0.0000001) and on the use of continuous medications (p=0.00008337). In addition, it was observed that the number of inhabitants in the household was decisive for the development of mental disorders (p=0.01131), while the sleep quality was decisive for the onset of mental disorders (p=0.001923) and pain (p= 0.001491) during the pandemic. Conclusion: The change in lifestyle and doubts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in sleep quality, stress and medications for medical professors, in addition to the emergence of pain and psychological disorders. Therefore, measures are needed to reduce the overload and stress of professors at pandemic, as well as actions to promote mental and physical health by the Higher Education Institution.