The COVID-19 pandemic has positioned health professionals around the world in an unprecedented situation, having to work in extreme conditions.

The reactions of healthcare personnel that concern us most are the negative psychological effects of the pandemic, such as exhaustion, moral injury, acute stress reactions, anxiety, depression or post- traumatic stress disorder.

To assess the impact of the COVID19 crisis on mental health of Spanish health professionals during the start of the pandemic.

A descriptive, cross-sectional study is carried out, in which the population sample to be studied was the health professionals who responded to the online questionnaire designed to assess the emotional impact caused by the COVID-19 health crisis.

The questionnaire collects sociodemographic and labor data, which correspond to the independent variables of the study. The dependent variables correspond to the two scales used in the questionnaire (SAS and SASRQ scales)

The population sample was 473 people.

Analyzing the results of the SAS scale, 26.5% of the sample had anxiety symptoms in a normal range, 44.3% had mild-moderate anxiety levels, 24.4% marked-severe anxiety and 4, 9% had extreme anxiety levels.

The SARQ questionnaire assesses the presence of an acute stress disorder. In our study, 31.6% of those surveyed had this type of disorder.

Immediate interventions and support for health professionals are essential to improve psychological resilience and avoid the appearance of mental health problems.

No significant relationships.

Many aspects of palliative care, such as managing (complicated) symptoms, conducting goals-of-care conversations, and repeated exposure to loss, can be stressful to clinicians. Previous research on the emotional impact of providing palliative care was mainly done in specialist settings. However, the majority of palliative care is provided by clinicians who are not specialized in palliative care, and can be supported by palliative care specialists only when needed. Therefore, this study aimed to gain insight into the emotional impact of providing palliative care on clinicians, both palliative care generalists and specialists.

A qualitative interview study among 21 clinicians (11 doctors and 10 nurses) working in hospitals, home care, or nursing homes in the Netherlands was conducted. Between February and June 2019, 13 palliative care generalists and 8 specialists were interviewed. Interviews were thematically analyzed by two researchers.

All clinicians considered the emotional impact of providing palliative care to be substantial and experienced both positive and negative aspects of providing palliative care. Several aspects of providing palliative care can support or undermine emotional stability. These so-called facilitators and barriers, such as practicing self-care and complexity of palliative care, were found at three different levels: individual, team, and organization.

Although clinicians experience providing palliative care as meaningful and valuable, the emotional impact is considerable. Negative and positive aspects often co-exist. Further insight into the dynamics and magnitude of the emotional impact of providing palliative care is needed in order to create a healthy working environment and develop adequate interventions.