Burnout, posttraumatic stress disorder, and sleep quality among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Nurses are in direct contact with healthcare clients. Infectious diseases epidemics, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, cause high levels of stress for nurses. The aim of this study was to evaluate burnout, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and sleep quality (SQ) among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this review, the Google Scholar, PubMed, ISI, Scopus, EMBASE, and Psych INFO databases were searched using the keywords “posttraumatic stress disorder”, “burnout”, “sleep quality”, “nurse”, “mental health”, and “coronavirus disease 2019” to find relevant studies published in English between May 2020 to July 2021. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement was used to appraise the quality of the retrieved studies.

The prevalence rates of burnout, PTSD, and low SQ were 25%–60%, 16%–68%, and 18%–38%, respectively. Nurses’ gender, job satisfaction, affiliated hospital ward, work experience, levels of stress and anxiety, and care provision in the frontline of COVID-19 care affected the prevalence of burnout, PTSD, and low SQ.

Burnout, PTSD, and low SQ are highly prevalent among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological counseling centers in hospitals need to provide nurses with training and counseling about the management of their mental health problems.