Radiologists too face the brunt of COVID-19

Besides being a pandemic COVID-19 has turned out to be a global psychological tragedy affecting the people in each part of the world. There are various symptoms seen in COVID patients differently, in different individuals but the thing which is seen even in non infected people around the globe  is “stress” which looks like a byproduct of this pandemic.

Even being a healthcare giver the radiologists are not spared too. Many surveys and studies conducted worldwide have shown a spike in stress level among radiologists after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

All the researches showed that main reasons behind the stress were the concerns about the health of radiologists, their family health, reduced work eventually leading to financial insecurities and overall disturbed work environment.

There is a decrease in volumes for reporting, radiology practices have been jeopardized. Many radiology centers are struggling financially and have to put radiologists on furlough leave. 

During this pandemic if some other ailment shows up then mostly people are avoiding to come to the hospital and any other lab or radiology center due to the risk of infection which has resulted in work volume shrinkage for radiologists.

Due to this stressful condition radiologists are making more mistakes and further worsening the situation.

This phase of work deficiency should go away soon with the life coming back to normal after coronavirus, but until we all wait to witness this, the whole human community including radiologists should try to invent their own ways  to remain relaxed because that is the only way we could thrive now and live a better life later. In scientific language this period looks like the “survival of the fittest”.