Post-traumatic Stress Disorder amongst Surgical Residents of Lahore

Introduction: The psychological state of the doctors independently is a danger that is frequently undervalued and neglected in many clinical environments. Whilst also treating patients in intense pain and existence injuries, doctors could feel afraid and acute stress in either themselves.

Objectives: To regulate the occurrence of PTSD between surgical trainees also correlation of PTSD with demographic profile and well-being in Lahore and Islamabad.

Methods: A questionnaire-based study was conducted in Surgery and allied departments of Mayo Hospital, Services Hospital, Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore General Hospital, Gulab Devi Hospital, Sheikh Zaid Hospital, Punjab Institute of Cardiology and Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, on 207 surgical trainees. It was a cross sectional descriptive study and stratified random sampling was used to collect data. Our current research was organized from April 2018 to April 2020. Non-surgical and non-Pakistan based surgeons were excluded from the study. Questionnaires were designed with PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 and WHO well-being index. SPSS v25 was used for data analysis.

Results: For 164 returned surveys average age remained 29.2 (SD 2.9) years; 100/164 respondents remained male. Average years in training remained 2.66 (SD 1.4). Average PCL-5 score remained 14. 31/164 respondents had cut off score ≥ 33. 38/164 respondents met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Females were more likely to have PTSD p=0.016(<0.05). Correlation between PCL-5 score and WHO well-being index was found to be significant at the 0.000 level, showing a -0.332 Pearson correlation value.

Conclusion: PTSD will be much more prevalent in surgical interns than in the general public. Recognizing and managing this threat is critical for trainee psychological health and quality care.