- Caregivers are strained by the coronavirus.
- Between the fear of being infected, of infecting their patients and their loved ones, overwork, very serious patients and death, psychological support is essential.
- Many associations, hospital groups and platforms offer a hotline or free teleconsultations.
Empty your bag before it becomes too heavy to move on. In this particularly psychologically trying period, where everyone experiences to varying degrees confinement, loneliness, loss of bearings, anxiety, there is a population particularly subject to stress: health professionals.
Obliged to work, sometimes without protection, often in difficult conditions, nurses, nursing assistants, doctors, stretcher bearers, physiotherapists, occupational therapists need to talk about this daily life turned upside down by the coronavirus.
Avoid trauma or burnout
The goal: to avoid burnout or depression, especially if this crisis stretches over time. "A caregiver is used to seeing the sick and the dying," recalls Thierry Baubet, professor of psychiatry at the Avicenne hospital in Bobigny (AP-HP). Sometimes it's too much, for example when he has to deal with situations for which he has not been trained. And this is the case today, with many caregivers working for the first time in intensive care or palliative care. Another risky situation: if there are many deaths, death announcements to be made, it can have a traumatic effect. "
Especially since the fear of being contaminated is compounded by the fear of infecting patients or their loved ones. Catherine Hintzy, psychologist, insists: “The caregivers need help, we feel a lot of anger and fears. If you empty the pan regularly, it will last for the long term. »There are certain signs to alert: sudden changes in behavior, poor sleep, addictions that take hold…. “The levels are individual, but as soon as you can no longer arrange breaks or use alcohol or drug substances systematically, it is time to consult. "
Hotlines organized in hospitals
This is why many associations and hospital groups offer psychological support. Not only to caregivers, moreover, but also to housekeepers, cooks, medical secretaries, reception staff, nursing home staff who also take care of our health.
Thus, the team of the Medico-Psychological Emergency Unit (CUMP13) of the University Hospitals of Marseille has set up a hotline dedicated to all the staff of the AP-HM. At the Paris Hospitals Public Assistance (AP-HP), also, an emergency telephone assistance line opened from the first day of confinement. After a rapid assessment, those who need psychological support can refer to a platform that redirects them to psychologists or a psychiatrist near them. Free and confidential consultations.
To this hotline are added local systems, by hospital groups. "In the three hospitals of Seine-Saint-Denis of the AP-HP, we have set up a telephone line and a whole pool of psychiatrists and psychologists who can make themselves available either by telephone or face-to-face, explains Thierry Baubet, psychiatrist. They come either from psychiatric services, or from the medico-psychological emergency unit, or from occupational medicine. "
The SPS association offers an anonymous and free toll-free number
The Healthcare Professional Association (SPS) did not wait for the coronavirus pandemic to set up a toll-free number (08 05 23 23 36 or on the Asso SPS mobile application) where 100 psychologists are listening caregivers anonymously and free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The number of daily calls increased from 5 per day to over 150 in a few days .
According to a study on these calls, they mainly come from the regions most affected by the epidemic: Ile-de-France (around 30% of calls), Grand Est (around 20%) and Auvergne-Rhône Alpes.
Free sessions on Psyformed
Another possibility, the Psyformed platform sees the number of graduate psychologists swelling day by day who offer support to professionals on the front line. Last week there were 1,000, today there are 1,610. How does it work ? The platform links a caregiver with a psychologist registered on the site, who can perform up to four free sessions. With a priority given to the local: a caregiver who works in Bordeaux will be given priority by a psychiatrist from his region. So that if the work continues, in particular by visual sessions, it can be carried out in the best conditions. "It is important to be in the same boat in relation to the epidemic," emphasizes Catherine Hintzy, psychologist in Normandy and volunteer for the site. If I accompany a doctor who practices in Mulhouse, I am not on the same degree of urgency… ”
Caregivers are not the best patients…
For the moment, this psychologist and former nurse has not received a call. "It takes time for people to grasp the tool and especially take the step," she explains. It is well known, doctors and nurses are not the best patients…. "Same observation for Thierry Baubet:" we see that for the moment, there are few calls, ten in a week on the hotline which covers three hospitals in Seine-Saint-Denis. What works more, for the moment, is when the psychiatric team comes into the departments and talks informally, at the coffee machine, for example. "
This delay in ignition is not surprising for this psychiatrist. “It's difficult, when you're in the middle of a health crisis, to ask for help. We do not have the head with that, we think that it is necessary to hold on and not to ask ourselves too many questions, that we do not feel legitimate… ”That is why he relies more on methods where the caregiver-patient does is not proactive, but above all where support is provided over time. "Psychic time is not that of medical emergency," he insists. What is happening today will cause suffering in a delayed manner. These aid systems should not disappear as soon as the epidemic is over. It is precisely when the pressure goes down that the psychic risk will be high. "
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