Implementing Home Office Work at a Large Psychiatric University Hospital in Switzerland During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Field Report

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, psychiatric hospitals all over the world had to adapt their services to the prevailing governmental regulations. As a consequence, home office use and telepsychiatly boomed. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of home office use, its adoption, and the association of home office use with employees' mental health in a large psychiatric university hospital in Switzerland. Methods: We obtained and analyzed home office implementation and use data from the psychiatric university hospital's information technology services. We also conducted a cross-sectional web-based survey to assess the employees' attitudes toward the clinic's crisis management during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Part of this web-based survey consisted of questions about home office use between March and June 2020, attitudes toward home office implementation, and mental health. Three mental health measures assessed depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ]-2), anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder [GAD]-2), and stress factors (stress module of the PHQ-D); a cut-off score >= 3 was used for the PHQ-2 and GAD-2. Results: Of the 200 participating employees, 69 reported that they had worked from home at least partially (34.5%). Home office use differed significantly across professional groups (chi(2)(16) =72.72, P <=.001, n=200). Employees experienced neither depressive symptoms (mean 0.76, SD 1.14) nor anxiety (mean 0.70, SD 1.03). The employees reported minor psychosocial stressors (mean 2.83, SD 2.92). The number of reported stress factors varied significantly across groups with different levels of home office use (chi(2)(4)=9.72, P=.04). Conclusions: In general, home office implementation appears to be feasible for large psychiatric hospitals, however, it is not equally feasible for all professional groups. Professional groups that require personal contact with patients and technical or manual tasks must work onsite. Further evaluation of home office use in psychiatric hospitals up to the development of clinics that function merely online will follow in future research. The situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic served as a stepping stone to promote home office use and should be used to improve employees' work-life balance, to save employers costs and foster other benefits.