he Rate of PTSD in HospitalBased Psychiatric Healthcare Workers: A Descriptive CrossSectional Design Study
- 1. Department of Nursing and Public Health, Adelphi University, USA
Abstract
Introduction: Psychiatric hospital healthcare workers are exposed to traumatic stress related to various forms of patient violence on a frequent basis. Published research suggests that the rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in this population of workers ranges between 0 and 10%. This study set out to measure the rate of PTSD in a sample of healthcare workers in a suburban New York psychiatric hospital.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive study using a cross-sectional design involving a convenience sample (N=172) of psychiatric nurses, nurses’ aides, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, and psychiatric rehabilitation specialists was performed. The PTSD Checklist, Civilian Version (PCL-C) was used to measure the symptoms of PTSD and the data was converted to determine a diagnosis of PTSD by subject, using the methodology described by the tool’s developers.
Results and Discussion: The rate of PTSD was found to be 9.9%. This is consistent with much of the previously published research. However, the quality of the data indicated a highly skewed distribution possibly related to attrition from the workplace of traumatized workers, and variability in the patient acuity of the workplace. This suggests that the true prevalence of PTSD may actually be higher. It also indicates a need for standardized responses to traumatization of workers. The use of a standardized form of incident debriefing appears to have merit. Conclusions: The rate of PTSD in this study confirms prior research, but the data suggests that the rate may be under-reported. Attention to post-traumatic event interventions may be useful in reducing the rate of PTSD in psychiatric hospital healthcare workers.