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CMAJ

The immediate psychological and occupational impact of the 2003 SARS outbreak in a teaching hospital.

Overview of attention for article published in Canadian Medical Association Journal, May 2003
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
9 news outlets
blogs
4 blogs
policy
2 policy sources
twitter
4 X users

Citations

dimensions_citation
1220 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
1222 Mendeley
Title
The immediate psychological and occupational impact of the 2003 SARS outbreak in a teaching hospital.
Published in
Canadian Medical Association Journal, May 2003
Pubmed ID
Authors

Robert Maunder, Jonathan Hunter, Leslie Vincent, Jocelyn Bennett, Nathalie Peladeau, Molyn Leszcz, Joel Sadavoy, Lieve M Verhaeghe, Rosalie Steinberg, Tony Mazzulli

Abstract

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Toronto, which began on Mar. 7, 2003, resulted in extraordinary public health and infection control measures. We aimed to describe the psychological and occupational impact of this event within a large hospital in the first 4 weeks of the outbreak and the subsequent administrative and mental health response. Two principal authors met with core team members and mental health care providers at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, to compile retrospectively descriptions of the experiences of staff and patients based on informal observation. All authors reviewed and analyzed the descriptions in an iterative process between Apr. 3 and Apr. 13, 2003. In a 4-week period, 19 individuals developed SARS, including 11 health care workers. The hospital's response included establishing a leadership command team and a SARS isolation unit, implementing mental health support interventions for patients and staff, overcoming problems with logistics and communication, and overcoming resistance to directives. Patients with SARS reported fear, loneliness, boredom and anger, and they worried about the effects of quarantine and contagion on family members and friends. They experienced anxiety about fever and the effects of insomnia. Staff were adversely affected by fear of contagion and of infecting family, friends and colleagues. Caring for health care workers as patients and colleagues was emotionally difficult. Uncertainty and stigmatization were prominent themes for both staff and patients. The hospital's response required clear communication, sensitivity to individual responses to stress, collaboration between disciplines, authoritative leadership and provision of relevant support. The emotional and behavioural reactions of patients and staff are understood to be a normal, adaptive response to stress in the face of an overwhelming event.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 4 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 1,222 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 2 <1%
Unknown 1220 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 171 14%
Student > Bachelor 121 10%
Researcher 109 9%
Student > Ph. D. Student 95 8%
Other 81 7%
Other 255 21%
Unknown 390 32%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 276 23%
Psychology 156 13%
Nursing and Health Professions 96 8%
Social Sciences 45 4%
Neuroscience 29 2%
Other 173 14%
Unknown 447 37%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 98. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 September 2023.
All research outputs
#419,656
of 24,945,754 outputs
Outputs from Canadian Medical Association Journal
#746
of 9,333 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#320
of 53,287 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Canadian Medical Association Journal
#1
of 31 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,945,754 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 9,333 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 33.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 53,287 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 31 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.