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Background COVID-19 pandemic has provoked a wide variety of psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, and panic disorders, especially among health service providers. Due to a greater risk of exposure to the virus, increased working hours, and fear of infecting their families, health service providers are more vulnerable to emotional distress than the general population during this pandemic. This online survey attempts to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 and its associated variables among healthcare workers in Nepal. Materials and methods For data collection purposes, Covid-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI) Questionnaire, was used whose content validity was verified by Shanghai mental health center. Data for the survey were collected from 11 to 24 October 2020 which was extracted to Microsoft Excel-13 and analyzed. Results A total of 254 health care workers from different provinces of the country participated in this study with a mean age of 26.01(± 4.46) years. A majority 46.9% (n = 119) of the participants were not distressed (score ≤28) while 46.5% (n = 118) were mild to moderately distressed (score >28 to ≤51) and 6.7% (n = 17) were severely distressed (score ≥52) due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Female participants (p = 0.004) and participants who were doctors by profession (p = 0.001) experienced significantly more distress. Conclusions COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the psychological distress amongst health care service providers. The findings from the present study may highlight the need for constructing and implementing appropriate plans and policies by relevant stakeholders that will help to mitigate the distress among health service providers in the current pandemic so that we can have an efficient frontline health workforce to tackle this worse situation.

Aims: This study aims to determine the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients presenting with globus pharyngeus in an outpatient clinic of a tertiary care center in Nepal Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the psychiatry outpatient department of Chitwan Medical College, Bharatpur, Nepal between Aug 2021 and Dec 2021. Methodology: Globus pharyngeus was diagnosed after ruling out obvious pathology related to the throat and gastrointestinal system by specialists from the respective departments. The Glasgow Edinburgh Throat Scale (GETS) with its Nepali translation and study-specific structured proforma for sociodemographic and clinical profiles has been used as the study tool. Patients were assessed by the consultant psychiatrist to find out psychiatric comorbidities. Results: Among the one hundred patients with a diagnosis of Globus pharyngeus, most patients were female (n=69), from an urban background(n=63), living in nuclear families (n=57), and were married (n=85). The mean age of patients with globus diagnosis was 37 years. The mean duration of globus symptoms was 32 months. Ninety-seven patients were previously treated for their problems from other centers. Discomfort/irritation in the throat (n=92), Feeling something stuck in the throat (n=91), and pain in the throat (n=81), were common symptoms. Psychiatric comorbidities [lifetime] were seen in forty-two patients. Conclusion: Female gender, age of thirties, married status, belonging to the urban background, living in a nuclear family, and long duration of treatment history are commonly observed characteristics of these patients. Comorbid anxiety and depression are frequently observed psychiatric comorbidities.

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