• covid-19
• work-related stress
• psychological trauma
• emergency care
• healthcare workers
• occupational medicine

In light of the unprecedent scenario of the current Coronavirus pandemic, psychological research field has turned the attention on new psychosocial risks emerging in this context, especially focusing on the importance of monitoring and protect mental health needs of hospital staff involved in the emergency response.
To our knowledge, recent literature about psychological discomfort in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 emergency presents two significant limitations. First, a gap between best evidence and best practice emerges about how their psychological needs are threatened and how to protect them; second, this topic is mainly analyzed with a view of subjective wellbeing maintenance and recovery, rather than by an integrated occupational perspective adequately considering short-term intervention priorities for both occupational safety and health and maintenance of job performance efficiency.
Given this contextual framework, the present work aims to share and describe the experience of an Italian Occupational Health Department engaged in monitoring and taking care of hospital staff’s psychological conditions during the Coronavirus emergency phase one.
A specific intervention protocol – called PsicoCovid19 – is presented, proposing a multidisciplinary approach from occupational medicine, based on teamwork and specifically designed to provide a timely and targeted emergency response to employees’ needs.
The insights emerging from protocol application are then discussed, focusing on emotional and cognitive skills role in either ensuring coping strategies effectiveness or leading to adaptive functioning impairment.