• Isabel Manzanares, Sonia Sevilla Guerra, María Lombraña Mencía, Nihan Acar-Denizli, Josep Miranda Salmerón, and Gemma Martinez Estalella.
• Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
• Int Nurs Rev. 2021 Dec 1; 68 (4): 461-470.

AimTo describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress, resilience and depression in health professionals from a public hospital in Barcelona, Spain after the first peak of pandemic.BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has pushed boundaries in health systems and, especially, for health professionals. Analysis of resilience as an individual resource and it is essential to understand the mechanisms that make staff react unfavourably to stressors caused by the pandemic.DesignA descriptive cross-sectional study was designed.ParticipantsHealth professionals supervised by the nursing department, including registered nurses, health care assistants, health technicians, final year nurse student nurses, foreign nurses, and other nurse-related health workers.MethodsThe study complies with the STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies. An online survey was administered to all health professionals supervised by the nursing department between 6 and 27 May 2020. The survey included the ER-14 Resilience Scale, the widely-used PHQ-9 depression scale, the Spanish version of the Nursing Stress Scale, and an ad-hoc questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic and occupational variables.ResultsA total of 686 participants answered the survey. Resilience was high or very high in health professionals, with an inverse correlation with stress and depression scores. Personal on fixed shifts showed better resilience. The most stressed health professionals were full-time registered nurses, followed by health care assistants. Up to 25% of nursing professionals had depression.ConclusionOur study showed a high degree of resilience among nurse professionals despite the overwhelming nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Relevant signs of depression and stress were detected among participants. Occupational factors heavily influenced nurses' resilience, stress and depression.Implications For Nursing & Health PolicyGovernment policy shifts are needed in Spain to improve nurses' workforce conditions, enhance the ratio of nurses to patient numbers, and avoid workforce losses. Maintaining the resilience of health professionals would assist in improving their health and their capacity to possible future emergency situations.© 2021 International Council of Nurses.

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