Effects of mass casualty incidents on anxiety, depression and PTSD among doctors and nurses: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

Introduction Both doctors and nurses showed a greater risk of being exposed to different mental health conditions following mass casualties. This systematic review aims to synthesise the existing evidence on the prevalence of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and their associated risk factors among doctors and nurses following mass casualty incidents.Methods and analysis Seven electronic databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, MEDLINE Ovid, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science and Nursing & Allied Health database) will be searched from 2010 to 2022 with peer-reviewed articles in English language using the predefined keywords. Two reviewers will independently screen the titles and abstracts, as well as review the full texts using the eligibility criteria, then extract data independently. The National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tools (NIH-QAT) for quantitative studies, the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) Checklist for qualitative studies and the Mixed-Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) for mixed-method studies will be used to measure the quality appraisal of eligible studies. A third reviewer will resolve the discrepancies when the two reviewers cannot reach an agreement in any step. The result from the eligible studies will be described following narrative synthesis with the key characteristics and findings of the included studies, and meta-analysis will be performed, if applicable.Ethics and dissemination This systematic review deals with existing published studies without any personally identifiable information of participants. Therefore, ethical approval from the research committee is not required. Findings from this review will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant international conferences.