Background:

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic affects the social, economic and health spheres of a country, especially negative psychological consequences to the health staff of public hospitals, considered as the first line of care for patients with this disease.

Objective:

To describe factors related to the presence of psychological distress in the health personnel of a public general hospital in Ecuador, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology:

Non-experimental, cross-sectional study with a descriptive-correlational scope. The data corresponded to 276 health officials who answered to an online instrument, with a sociodemographic data module and a psychological distress screening scale, these were applied after a health intervention aimed at health personnel conducted at the beginning of the pandemic, in May 2020. Descriptive and association analyzes were performed using SPSS 25.0 software.

Results:

The sample was made up of 76.1 % women, 23.9 % men, mean age of 36 years, with a greater number of Nursing professionals (33.7 %), followed by Medicine (24.3 %). 70.7 % of the health personnel presented psychological distress, out of these, 26.1 % showed mental disorder. Three variables related to the presence of psychological distress were found: work environment, teleworking and living with risk groups.

Conclusions:

Health staff has presented mental health distress related to socio-labor conditions during the pandemic.

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