Essential, not peripheral: Addressing health care workers' mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In this Opinion, we synthesize recent evidence regarding the mental health impacts of the pandemic with an emphasis on health care workers. Departing from the literature that has already been published on this topic, we focus on health care workers with mental health concerns that preexisted the pandemic and discuss evidence suggesting that this population has suffered disproportionately from pandemic conditions.

Keywords: COVID-19; mental health; pandemic; psychological distress.