THE EFFICACY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASURES RENDERED BY PHYSIOTHERAPISTS SERVING IN COVID WARDS IN ALLEVIATING THE PANIC ATTACKS

Abstract

Covid-19 can disrupt a person’s circadian rhythm, which can impair his sleep, leading to insomnia and snowball into depression, anxiety and other cognitive changes, not infrequently a panic disorder .Present pandemic also witnessed the shortage of essential medicines including oxygen ,unavailability of intensive care beds ,making the patients and attendants panicky, alike. It has been observed that all the efforts are being put forth to understand the epidemiology, clinical symptoms, transmission patterns and the management of the covid-19 outbreak ,but there has been a little concern put forward over the traumatizing effect on one’s mental health. This pandemic witnessed the utter paucity of qualified medical personnel to serve in wards hence forcing physiotherapy students and interns to compliment their medical counterparts. We understood the need of psychological counselling for these admitted patients and we deputed physiotherapists to render the same. The benefit of counselling was quantified as the fall in the incidence of weekly panic attacks. This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of physiotherapists posted in covid wards in reducing the panic attacks, since physiotherapist do have a basic knowledge of the psychology as a subject and they usually also have ample spare time in the wards, after they have completed their specialized duties. We studied 552 admitted patients of covid-19 in two medical colleges, identified patients with frequent panic attacks, who were then counselled psychologically. The effects of counselling sessions were observed for average 7 days of admission. We found on an average 64% fall in the number of panic attacks in the psychologically disturbed patients. We hence conclude that the physiotherapists posted in the covid wards should also be utilized in rendering psychological counselling to minimize occurrence of the panic attacks.

Keywords: psychological, physiotherapists & Covid.