Influence of Different Protection States on the Mental Fatigue of Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Haizhe Jin,1 Meng Xiao,2 Zibo Gong,3 Yinan Zhao4 1Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Radiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Zibo Gong, Department of Radiology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36, Sanhao Street, Heping District, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China, Email gongzibomed@163.com Yinan Zhao, Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China, Email zhaoyinan1616@yahoo.co.jpBackground: COVID-19 has brought greater workload pressures to the medical field, such as medical staff being required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE). While PPE can protect the safety of staff during the pandemic, it can also accelerate the accumulation of fatigue among operators.Objective: This study explores the influence of different protection states on the mental fatigue of nurses.Methods: In this study, 10 participants (5 males and 5 females) were randomly selected among applicants to monitor mental fatigue during the nurses’ daily work in four different PPE states (low temperature and low protection; low temperature and high protection; high temperature and low protection; high temperature and high protection). The NASA subjective mental fatigue scale was used for subjective evaluation. Reaction time, attention concentration, attention distribution, memory, and main task completion time were used for objective evaluation.Results: The results demonstrated a significant difference in the effects of different protection states on mental fatigue. The state of high temperature and high protection had the greatest influence on mental fatigue, the state of low temperature and low protection had the least, and states of high (low) temperature and low (high) protection had intermediate effects on mental fatigue. Furthermore, the correlation between the subjective and objective fatigue indices was analyzed using a multiple regression model.Conclusion: This study clarified the influence of different protection states on the mental fatigue of nurses, and verified that nurses require more time and energy to complete the same work as before under high protection states. It provides a basis for evaluating the mental fatigue of nurses in the unique period of the COVID-19 pandemic and specific ideas for optimizing the nursing process.Keywords: COVID-19, personal protective equipment, mental fatigue, experimental research, nurse